Fallling (Formerly Known as Betty's Dating Coach)
by TMadison
Summary: Summary: After Henry's departure from her life, Betty struggles to find her way back into the dating world. She just might need a little help from a friend. *Story has a new title
1. Chapter 1

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: This A/U story is set in Season 2 around A League of Our Own. I will say now that there are a lot of cannon elements that I'm removing (such as Wilhelmina's blackmailing of Betty, Betty's discovery of Wilhelmina's affair and Papi's immigration issues.) It just gets in the way of the story that I'm going to be telling. Some canon elements may remain though. I'm also choosing to have Henry remain in Tucson in this version (Are those cheers that I hear?.) Gio will be staying out of the way too. I will also say that this story is also slightly inspired by the movie, How to Fall in Love with Eric Mabius. (Even one of the characters, I'm using is inspired by Eric's character in the movie, Harold.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty or How to Fall in Love._

**Summary: After Henry's departure from her life, Betty struggles to find her way back into the dating world. She just might need a little help from a friend.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Betty sat at her desk, preparing for Daniel's arrival. It was almost five minutes to nine and Daniel was late. He called her from the town car and said that he was on his way. He said he overslept. Betty wasn't stupid though. She knew the code.

Overslept meant that he just got home, having stayed over with a woman. Betty, of course, knew that the woman was Angel, the model that he had a date with last night.

Who was she to judge though? At least, Daniel seemed to like this girl and he knew her name. At least, he had some type of love life, unlike her.

Plus, she had to admit that she was proud of him because the amount of sleep overs had seemed to decrease since the car accident. Perhaps, there was some hope for him yet. Betty still help hope that her friend would find a meaningful relationship and someone that would realized what an amazing heart he had.

"Good morning." Daniel appeared smiling. She laughed, as she got confirmation that someone got lucky last night. She just hoped it would put him in a good enough mood to get through the bad news she had to give him.

"Good morning." Betty grabbed her notebook and the Apple Danish and followed him into his office. They only had five minutes to get to the morning meeting in Wilhelmina's office. She knew that Daniel was not going to want to attend.

"So…how was your date last night?" Daniel asked Betty. Betty really didn't want to talk about it. To begin with she should have known better to allow Hilda to set her up on a blind date; the guy was a funeral director. "Were there any sparks?"

Betty had to admit that Daniel had been very interested in helping her through getting over Henry's departure. It hadn't been easy. But having a friend to talk to about it had really helped immensely. Even the funeral they had in Central Park had really helped her put Henry in the past. At the same time, it had helped Daniel come to terms with his drug addiction.

"Oh…It was a disaster." Betty groaned.

"It couldn't have been that bad." Daniel gazed up at her from behind his desk.

"Daniel, his idea of a lively conversation was asking me if I had made my funeral arrangements."

"Oh,..Betty. Do…uh…you wanna go get some coffee and an Apple Danish and we can talk about it?" Daniel offered sweetly. His blue eyes were so sympathetic that it warmed her heart.

She also knew that this was her chance to get him to Wilhelmina's office. "Sure. That sounds great."

Daniel got up from his desk and they exit his office. "Do I have any messages?"

"Kathy Griffin called. She's begging for a date. I told her no." They start through the tube. "And your father wants to have you and Alexis over for dinner to spend time with him and Wilhelmina…and I didn't know what to say."

"Great. The last thing I want to do is spend time with my future step monster. One big crappy family." Daniel said sarcastically.

Betty cringed a little. She knew that things had been exactly peachy since the accident and since Daniel's father divorced his mother and became engaged to Wilhelmina.

"A begrudging yes. It is then." They start past the reception desk and Betty knew that she had to tell him where they were going. "Uh….and your future step monster has called a meeting in her office in 30 seconds." She tugged Daniel in the direction of her office.

"Wait…I thought we were going to get a Danish." He looked extremely disappointed.

Betty pulled out her conceal secret weapon, the Apple Danish and handed it to him. He looked at it like she just performed the most amazing magic trick ever.

"Wow. Are you really that good? You just had that on you."

"You'll never know." She giggled and said playfully.

"I would rather talk about your date then go in there." Daniel said plainly.

"We can talk about that later."

"Lunch then?" Daniel asked.

"Sure." She nodded. These days, they had been each other's default lunch dates. "How about the Italian place down the street."

"You read my mind." Daniel grinned.

As they approach the doorway, she and Daniel look in to see that the meeting has already begun. Leave it to Wilhelmina to start the meeting early to make Daniel look bad.

Betty's eye is drawn to guy sitting beside Alexis. "Who's that guy?"

"I think that's the new guy they hired to replace senior accountant they hired to replace….Hen….you know who. I think his name is Harold. You should have gotten the memo on that."

"Yes. Of course. I tore right through the memo." Betty smiled, as she felt her face fill with warmth. Harold was very handsome. He had brown hair. He had perfect teeth too. His blue eyes peered out from behind his black framed glasses.

Daniel grinned. He shook his head, obvious already aware of her little crush on the new guy. "Come on. Let's get in there."

* * *

It was getting close to time for lunch. Since the meeting, she had seen the new guy twice. Once on the elevator when she went out to pick up Daniel's dry cleaning and then he came by her desk to drop off some papers for Daniel to sign.

From those brief encounters, she knew that his name was Harold and that he was in fact the new guy and he just moved to town. He seemed nice enough. There was no way that she was going down that path again though. Dating someone at work was not a good idea. She needed to learn from her experience with Henry. It would only lead to awkwardness

During her break this morning, Christine had told her to try internet dating. After some hesitation, she allowed her to set up a profile and just wait to see what happened.

"Are you ready for lunch?" Daniel came out of his office.

"Yeah, just a second. I want to see if I got any response from Bachelocity."

"Internet dating." Daniel came around her desk. "Are you serious? Betty, I don't know. You could end up with a serial killer or something."

"It can't be worse than last night."

"Well, if you go on a date with someone from this site, you might need those funeral arrangements." Daniel pointed out. "There are other options."

Betty turned her head. "Like?"

"What about the new guy? I saw you get all blushy with him earlier. If I didn't know better, I think that you liked him."

"Maybe, a little but there is no way that anything is going to happen."

"I could make him go out with you. After all, my name is on the building." Daniel said half-jokingly. "I could tell him that it's part of his job description and if he doesn't take you out, he's fired."

"Oh…yes, that would be so much better than internet dating; a date that my boss blackmailed someone into. That makes me feel very wanted."

"Betty, I didn't mean it like that. I was only kidding. I mean, why wouldn't he want to go out with you. You two seem compatible and he's your type. He even has Henry's glasses."

He added. "And you have a lot of offer someone, Betty."

"Thanks, Daniel. I think that I'll just try the internet dating thing. Christine said that she's met a lot of great guys on her."

"I don't know." Daniel was clearly not buying it and she understood where he was coming from. She wasn't totally convinced but figured it was worth a try.

"I'll be careful." She logged into the website. "Look…I already have 15 responses already." She scanned the list. "See it works."

"I'm not convinced. The first one's profile name is I Love Tacos." Daniel chuckled.

"I Love Tacos." Betty said cheerfully.

"And the next one is I Love Churros."

"I Love Churros." Betty flashed him a smile.

"Betty…the next one is I Love Tortillas."

Behind her, she heard some snickering coming from behind the partition. "Amanda…." Betty said loudly. "You are not funny."

Betty and Daniel turned to see Amanda leaning over the divider. "You have to admit that it's a little funny."

"Amanda, get back to work." Daniel ordered her. "Now."

Then, they turned back toward the screen. "See…there's a one real one. His name is NiceGuy47."

"Is 47 the number of women that he has chopped up and hiding in his closet at home?" Daniel said seriously. "Or is that the number of years that he's lived at home with his parents?"

"Daniel…"

"Or it could be number of Star Trek conventions that he's been too?" Daniel said.

"Are you done?" A smile crossed Betty face.

"Nope….It could also be the number of hairs that he has left on his head. There isn't even a picture of this guy."

"Are you having fun? I'm going to die old and alone…and have 47 cats." Betty said playfully. She knew that Daniel was kidding.

"His message said I would love to go out with you. Your profile says that you enjoy bowling. So if you have some spare time…Aww….that's sweet."

"Lame." Daniel replied.

Betty rolled her eyes. "I'm going to write him back. What do I have to lose?"

She quickly types a message back to him. "I would love to go out with you. I love bowling." She pressed send. "There it is done."

"I'm sure that will get his attention." Daniel chuckled.

"You think so…"

"Actually, I think you should probably re-send that message."

"Why?"

"You just told him that you love blowing." Daniel raised his eye brow.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you so much for the feedback and comments for the first chapter. I'm so glad that you are enjoying this story. It's going to be a lot of fun to write it._

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Daniel gazed up through the glass that separated his office from Betty's desk. He was aware that it was none of his business how Betty found her dates but the fact was that he still didn't like the idea of this whole internet dating thing that Betty had signed up for, especially because at this moment she was talking to the new guy, Harold from accounting and she could see her blushing from across the room.

She wasn't alone either. It was clear that Harold seemed interested in Betty, as well. Who wouldn't be?

Betty was an amazing young woman with a bright future with a lot to offer to someone. She was kind, sweet, intelligent and fun to be around.

It was actually kind of sweet to see someone (besides Henry) so taken with Betty. Watching them was like torture though. Why didn't Harold just ask her out already?

Harold seemed like a good guy. After the morning meeting, Daniel had done some homework on him. Jenny in accounting had given him the scoop. Harold was single, never been married. He just moved to town and was still finding his way around.

Daniel had only been half-joking when he suggested that he intervene. But now he was wondering whether he should. Of course, he knew that Betty would be furious with him. He knew her that well. In Daniel's mind, anything was Betty than Betty going on with this internet guy that she never met, who probably already had 47 different ways of hurting or taking advantage of Betty.

No one was prouder of Betty for trying to get back out there. He knew better than most how hard it had been when Henry had left her behind. This just felt like the wrong way to go about this.

"Daniel, Harold stopped by he needs you to sign these." Betty said, as she placed the file on his desk.

"He sure has been up here enough." Daniel teased her. "In fact, I think that he likes you, Betty."

"That's crazy. He's just being professional."

"Betty, he's interested. I'm a guy. I can tell," said Daniel. "He's just probably shy."

"Even if he was interested, I'm not going to pursue him…and anyway, he works here, I'm not going down that road again. At 7:00, I am going on a date with…"

"You don't even know his name." Daniel tried not to laugh. He bit his lip.

"NiceGuy47." She replied

"That's not his name, Betty."

"I know…" She rolled her eyes. "I didn't get it."

"Another reason you shouldn't go. Please reconsider this. He's probably only after one thing and I assure you that it's not your brain."

"Daniel, not all guys are after that…"

"Wanna bet?" Daniel chuckled. "I'm a guy. I should know."

"Said the man that has slept with half the women in the city."

"I have not. You can't believe everything you read, Betty. The number is a lot lower than what most people think. Anyway, this isn't about me. Just because someone was seen going into my apartment building- or me into theirs- doesn't mean that we had sex."

"What were you doing playing Scrabble?" Betty smirked.

"Very funny."

"Daniel, I appreciate your concern but you were the one that told me that I needed to get back out there."

Daniel got up from his seat and made his way around his desk. "Betty, I do want you to get back out there. I know how difficult it has been." He reached for her hand. "But there is no one that deserves to be happy more than you, I just don't want you to settle for something that works because you don't want to wait for the right guy to come along."

"Hmmm…maybe, you should take your own advice, Daniel…." Betty paused. "Except you aren't waiting for a man…you don't seem to want to wait for the right woman."

Daniel realized that she was right on target. However, he liked focusing on Betty. He wanted to see her happy. He was tired of seeing her with the wrong guys. The first guy was that Wilbur guy, whose idea of a romantic gesture was giving her batteries, instead of flowers. Then, there was Henry, who got another girl pregnant.

"This isn't about me, Betty."

"Maybe, it should be." Betty sighed. "I'm assuming that things went well with Angel last night. You overslept."

Leave it to Betty to point out something like that at a moment like this. "Betty, I did oversleep this morning. Angel ran into some of her friends and wanted to go out to another club. I ended up going home. I didn't sleep with her."

"None of my business." Betty started to leave.

"Betty, wait. Let me, at least, go with you. I can make sure that the guy isn't a creep." Daniel rather play look out for Betty than go have dinner with her father and Wilhelmina. Alexis could handle asking their father for money to help with the loss of the advertisers.

"Daniel, I appreciate your concern. Your protectiveness is…endearing…really, but I'll be fine. I can handle myself. Besides, you are having dinner with your father and the future step monster tonight."

"Okay." He knew better than to fight her on this. "If you have any problems, call me. I'll come take care of him for you."

* * *

After a disastrous dinner and an early departure, Daniel went home and changed clothes. He was meeting Beck for a drink and see what kind of trouble they could find. That seemed like more fun than going home and calling it a night. Then, he looked down at his watch, realizing that it was still early. In fact, it was almost seven-thirty.

Betty was supposed to meet that guy at the bowling alley in fifteen minutes. Suddenly, it seemed that looking out for his friend's welfare was a better use of his time than picking up women at a night club with Becks.

He quickly gave the driver some new instruction to take him to the bowling alley and sent Becks a text to let him know that something came up. He would just stop by and make sure the guy wasn't insane and was treating Betty right. Then, he would quiet slip out and Betty would never have to know that he was even there.

When Daniel arrived at the bowling alley, it was a two minutes to seven. As he went inside, he was cautious, so he would not be spotted by Betty. When he found Betty, he hid behind a tall rack of bowling balls. As he watched her, he saw that she had already made contact with the guy and they had just got their bowling shoes.

From his surveillance spot, it was clear that it wasn't an instant love connection. He could see that Betty was nervous because she hadn't stopped talking yet. Daniel knew that was an instant sign that she was anxious.

All in all, the guy seemed normal enough though. Perhaps, Daniel was worried too much. It was clear that Betty could take care of herself.

Over the next ten minutes, Daniel watched the date unfold before his eyes. He was hopeful that things would get better. They hadn't. In those ten minutes, Daniel learned that Betty was a horrible bowler. He also learned that Betty's lack of dating experience wasn't helping matters and this date was sinking faster than the Titanic.

Her date didn't seem to be helping matters either. He had seen him check his watch when she wasn't looking, a total of five times in the last ten minutes. Was this guy late for his next internet date?

When she answered her cell phone, Daniel groaned. Wrong move.

He also saw the guy excuse himself and walk away, into the men's room. Daniel was tempted to go in there and try to salvage this date. He promptly decided against it. When Betty's date left the men's room, he headed straight for the exit, leaving Betty waiting in the lane alone.

What a jerk! Daniel was tempted to take off after him and drag him back. He could have at least had to courtesy of telling her that he was leaving. Once again, he decided against this course of action. He didn't deserve Betty anyway.

If the guy failed to see that Betty was special, that was his problem. It became more apparent that it might be time for some dating intervention.

Daniel knew that he had to do something right now. Betty was already starting to figure out that her date wasn't coming back. The thought of that made Daniel's heart ache. What kind of guy did that to someone?

Okay. Daniel had done that to other women in the past. However, seeing it happen to someone who he cared about made him realize that it was a bonehead move and he secretly vowed to never do it again.

With that, Daniel rolled up his sleeves and went to get some shoes. A minute later, Daniel was standing there before Betty.

"Daniel, what are you doing here?"

"I was just in the neighborhood," said Daniel. He knew that Betty wouldn't buy it. Right now, he didn't care though.

"I thought you were having dinner with your father," said Betty.

"That didn't go well at all." He took a deep breath and picked out a bowling ball.

"Daniel, you can't stay here. I'm on a date." Betty spoke up.

"About that…" Daniel looked around. "I ran into him. He had to leave. Something about a pet bird."

"A pet bird?" She gave him a puzzled gaze.

"Something about the bird flu." Daniel grinned.

"He left, didn't he?" Betty asked.

Daniel didn't want to answer her. "How about we bowl a couple of games? I'll take you out for something to eat, since I never actually got to eat dinner tonight and then maybe some drinks."

"Okay." A smile came to Betty's face that almost melted Daniel's heart in an instant.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate it. _

* * *

**Chapter Three**

In the other room, Betty could hear Daniel on the phone, ordering Chinese food. He wanted to take her out to a restaurant. Even though, he told her that he would take her anywhere that she wanted to go.

Right now, the last thing she wanted to do was go out in public. In fact, she wished that Daniel's couch would just swallow her up whole, so that she wouldn't have to hear the inevitable "I told you so" that she knew would come out of Daniel's mouth at some point, before the end of the evening.

"Here this should help take away some of the sting?" Daniel handed her a glass of amber-colored liquid.

She reached for it and then looked into the glass and then back up at him. "What is it?"

"It's scotch."

"I really shouldn't." She smelt it. "If I drink this, I won't be able to even to walk straight if I drink this. I still have to go home."

Daniel chuckled. "Betty, I'll make sure that you get home. It's only a little bit."

"Is this because of my date abandoned me or because you beat me in bowling?" Betty said plainly, still examining the glass he gave her and trying to decide whether she should try it.

"A little of both." He said playfully, as he sat down beside her on the couch.

She lifted the glass to her lips and drank. "Oh…that's horrible." She twisted her face, as the scotch burned her throat. "How can you drink that stuff?"

"Not thinking about that loser anymore, are you?" Daniel chuckled, taking the glass from her.

She coughed, as she tried to recover. "No…I guess not." She took a deep breath "You can go ahead and tell me that you tried to warn me." Betty couldn't even look at him. "I know that you're dying to."

"I'm not going to do that, Betty."

"Why not? Daniel, you were right….well, not about the serial killer part. Bu you were right, it was a bad idea."

Daniel pulled his arm around her. "Come on. At least, you tried."

"Tonight was so horrible."

"Uh…Thanks…" Daniel said reluctantly. "I actually had a pretty good time."

She slapped him playfully. "I'm not talking about you. I appreciate you being so thoughtful," said Betty. "And that you cared enough to come check on me. That was very sweet. Thank you."

"Well, you're welcome. Spending time with you tonight actually was so much better than that horrible dinner at my dad's." Daniel grinned.

"What happened?" Betty asked.

"What didn't happen? It was a nightmare. Wilhelmina was trying to make us all into a perfect family. She even tried to get us to take holiday photos. Then, dad blamed me for the problem with the advertisers, even though I was trying to protect Alexis."

"Of course, you were protecting her. She's your sister."

"Well, I'm wondering now, if I should have done that at all. She told me that she remembered that she was at fault for the accident."

"What?" Betty realized that there were bigger issues than her horrendous dates.

"All this time, I blamed myself because I was high. It turns out that Alexis had the brakes cut on dad's car. That's what caused the accident." Betty could see that this was eating away at Daniel. She knew that he had been carrying around the guilt for some time. "If it hadn't been us in the accident, it would have been him. She tried to have him killed."

Betty couldn't believe what she was hearing or that Daniel was confessing something like this to her. Sure, they shared secrets but nothing like this.

"Oh…Daniel. That's…." Betty didn't even know what to say. "Wow. Are you okay?" Betty reached for his hand.

"I don't know. I think it's still really sinking in." He said honestly. "That's why I actually didn't mind having something to take my mind off my own problems tonight.."

"Well, I guess it is better than dealing with things the way you normally do."

"Yeah. I guess that's true. " Daniel agreed. Then, the doorbell rang. "I guess that would be our dinner. I'll be right back." A few minutes later, he returned with their food. As they settled in, they knelt on the floor and sat ate from the cartons.

"You know, I'm starting to think that I might just forget about guys for a while," said Betty. "Focus on other things. I mean, I have my writing classes. I could…"

"Betty, you can't just give up because of what that jerk did."

"Maybe, I'm just no good at this kind of stuff." Betty put the carton back on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch..

"I noticed." Daniel grinned.

Betty felt her face flood with warmth. "I'm so embarrassed." She removed her glasses, placing them on the coffee table and covered her face.

Daniel stopped eating and placed his carton on the table. Then, he reached over and pulled her hands away from her face.

For a moment, Daniel remained silent. His hands fell away from her hands. She couldn't see the expression on his face or the reason for his pause. "Daniel, I need my glasses."

"Oh…yeah...here." He handed them to her. She slid them on her face. "Betty, you don't need to be embarrassed. You told me yourself that you haven't had that much dating experience."

He added. "You can't let what one guy did affect your life. It's his loss. I have to admit though when I saw him leave. I felt like running after him but I stopped because I realized that he didn't deserve you anyway, if he couldn't look past your imperfections."

"Imperfections…I guess I do have a lot of them." She admitted.

"Betty, we all have them.. I'm far more flawed than you." Daniel said.

"At least, you have perfect teeth and perfect vision."

"You think so?" Daniel chuckled. "Betty…hang on…just a second. I'll be right back" Daniel got up from his place and moved into the other room. She heard the sound of drawers opening and boxes being shuffled about. She heard a crash.

"Daniel, is everything okay in there? Do you need help? You aren't injured, are you?"

"No…" He called out. "I'll be there in just a second."

While Betty waited, she went back to eating her beef and broccoli, wondering what Daniel was up to and why he made such a quick exit.

"Okay… I'm back." Daniel came out of his bedroom. He hurried back over and took his seat. "I have something for you…something I want to show you."

He handed her a small photo. She placed her food back down and took the photo in her hand. It was a young boy with glasses and braces.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"That's me, Betty."

She looked from the photo back up at him. "You wore glasses?"

"Actually, I still do. I don't wear them much. My eye sight isn't as great as you think it is….and obviously, my teeth weren't always perfect." Daniel took a deep breath.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Betty wondered.

"I wanted to forget about Danny Meade." Daniel confessed. "Why do you think that I don't let anyone call me Danny? Alex was the only one that called me that and I think he just did it because he knew I hated it."

"Why would you want to forget?" Betty asked curiously.

"I'm sure I'm not the first one on earth that wants to forget their awkward years," said Daniel. "I left the guy in this photo behind in junior high school. This guy never got the girl. He didn't know a thing about how to romance a girl."

He continued. "When I started high school, Alex and I transferred to a private school here in Manhattan. By that time, the braces were gone and the glasses were replaced with contacts. The girls obviously noticed and somehow, I was this popular guy that had his pick of any girl he wanted. My life has never quite been the same since. I've done everything that I could do to bury the memory of the guy in that picture. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this is the only photo that exists. Back then, I wasn't much for pictures and the photos that we did have were mostly destroyed when we had the attic fire."

"I bet that Danny was very sweet." Betty gazed down at the photo of Daniel at 13 years old. "I'm sure that he's still in there somewhere." In fact, she was positive of it. His actions tonight were proof of that.

"Some people bring him out more than others. I guess." Daniel smiled. "In fact, when you started working at MODE, I have to tell you that it really killed me on how I treated you. I shouldn't have treated you that way because I do know what it's like to be treated like an outcast."

Betty nodded. She hated to think about those days. Of course, Daniel had made up for it a long time ago. She hand the photo back to him.

"No… I want you to have it."

"Daniel, it's the only one you have."

"I'm trusting you with it because you are the one that brought this guy back," said Daniel. "You make me want to be a better person. After seeing what that guy did to you tonight, I realized that I'm pulled the same thing a hundred times. I'm ashamed of that but that's all going to change."

He added. "I want you to keep this picture as a reminder that a person with outward beauty can have an ugly heart and the person that the world views as different…or ugly, can have the most beautiful heart of all, Betty. You have one of the most beautiful hearts that I know and any man who is able to see that is the one that truly deserves you. The man who deserves you would never leave you."

"Daniel…" She felt tears in her eyes and she pulled him into a hug. His arms went around her. She rested her head on his shoulders.

"And I'll do whatever I can to help you find what your heart desires," said Daniel sincerely.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the comments and feedback. I appreciate it._

* * *

**Chapter Four**

As they both sat in the back of the town car, Daniel gazed over at Betty. She sat there quietly, looking out the window as they crossed the bridge on the way back to Queens. He could see that she was exhausted but he could also see that she seemed lost in her thoughts.

Tonight had been full of surprises for both of them. Tonight, he had seen another side of her. He knew very well that Betty didn't need a man to accomplish her goals. Tonight, he saw the side of her that ached to have someone love her and see her for who she really was, inside.

And if anyone deserved to be loved and find happiness, it was Betty.

In turn, he had showed her the side of him that he hid from the rest of the world. He knew that Suzuki St. Pierre would probably give his right arm for the photo that Betty carried in her bag.

He had to admit that it felt good to let her in on that part of him that few people knew. But it seemed that Betty just had this way about her. She had a way of making you want to open up the darkest parts of your soul. When you did, the brightness of her smile filled those dark corners with light.

When that happened, it changed you forever. Betty had a way of making you want to be a better person.

And because of that, Betty deserved all the good things that life could give her. Daniel wanted nothing more than to help her achieve that.

Perhaps with his assistance, she could break out of her shell and gain the confidence that she needed to realize that, if she wanted Harold…or any other man. She had the tools. She just needed to learn how to use them and who better to show her the ways of the world than Daniel Meade, the city's most notorious bachelor.

Not that Daniel wanted Betty change, he didn't. He just wanted to help guide her by giving his friend a little polish, some dating tips and Daniel was confident that when this was all combine with her already bright personality. She would shine like a diamond in no time.

A beautiful brilliant diamond.

By the time, they reached the front steps of the Suarez house. Daniel was convinced that he was up for the challenge. He knew that he would just have to do a little convincing to get Betty to go along with it.

"Thank you for everything. Dinner, bowling…it was a lot of fun." Betty said sincerely, as they paused in front of the steps. Her smile was contagious, making him smile too.

Daniel thought to himself that if Betty had been as comfortable on her date earlier tonight, perhaps it had gone differently. That was something they needed to work on.

"It was my pleasure." He said gratefully.

"Thank you for the picture, Danny." Betty grinned. "I'll keep it safe."

"I know you will." Daniel trusted her with his secret. He didn't even care that she had called him Danny a few times that night. It seemed that coming from her. It wasn't quite so bad.

"Well…I guess I better get inside." Betty said a bit uncomfortably. "I'll see you in the morning."

He reached for her arm. "Betty, wait…there's something else."

"Yes." She turned back towards her.

"I was wondering if…" Daniel didn't want to offend her or make it should like she had to change. "If you wanted some help with the whole dating thing…"

"What?" An expression of confusion crossed her face. "What exactly do you mean help me?"

"Well, I just thought we could have a little fun. I could give you some experience and teach you what guys like"

"Daniel…" Her eyes widened, mildly shocked.

"No….Not like that." Daniel chuckled at how much that sounded like a come-on and the stunned expression on Betty's face. "That came out wrong. Let me try that again."

"Okay." She nodded, obviously curious where he was trying to go with this.

"I thought that maybe I could tutor you." Daniel stuck his hands in his coat pockets. He moved forward a bit. "Show you what guys like."

"I just want to be myself."

"And I'm not suggesting that you not be yourself. In fact, I love…the way you are. You are bright, intelligent…amazing young woman. You have all the tools, Betty. You just need a little help learning how to use them to get a guy's attention."

"Still not convinced." Betty said skeptically.

"Well, if you remember a few months ago, MODE did an article on dating coaches. They are really huge right now."

"I remember. So…let me get this straight, Daniel? You want to be my dating coach."

"Well, I've dated enough. Don't you think?" Daniel grinned.

"I wouldn't exactly call what you do…dating."

"Touché" Leave it to Betty to point that out. "Still, you have to admit I'm pretty qualified."

"I guess you have a point. Wouldn't it be kind of weird though?" Betty asked curiously. "I mean, what would be involved. You aren't going to try to turn me into a supermodel or something."

"No. I'm not going to turn you into a supermodel. Not all men want that. Sure…they are nice to look at. However, there are men that like someone they can talk to. Believe me, dating a supermodel isn't what it's cracked up to be. Once you get passed the physical, there isn't always a brilliant mind there."

He added. "Believe me, it gets old. If I'm going to spend my life with someone, I'm going to want someone that I can have a conversation with."

"Really…" She seemed surprised. "You really are full of surprises tonight."

"Come on. I would make me feel good to be able to help you with this."

"Why?" She asked.

"Well, I want you to be happy, Betty. I've hated seeing how unhappy you've been since Henry left and I really want to help you find someone that deserves you. In fact, I'll help you get a date with that Harold guy, if you want. I think he's way too shy to make a move without some kind of motivation."

"You aren't going to fire him."

"I'm not going to fire him, Betty."

"Are you sure that you aren't just using this as a distraction from your own problems?" Betty took a deep breath. He knew that she wasn't totally wrong. It was nice to have something else to focus on and what a better cause than helping a friend to make you forget your own problems.

"I admit it…maybe, that's partly true. But I really want to help you show the rest of the world what I see when I look at you," said Daniel. "In fact, you could even write an article on your experience, if you want."

"Well, it's not every day that New York's most eligible bachelor allows a woman to get inside his head?"

Daniel knew that he had hooked her. Now, he just had to reel her in. "Exactly…you know how many women you would be doing this for. It would almost be like one of those public service announcements."

She laughed. "Well, I guess it would be doing my part for the women of New York City. I could also help them see that there is more to you than just your….well, you know." Even in the darkness, he could see her blush.

"Yeah. That would be nice too but it's not why I want to do this. I really don't care what anyone thinks of me. I want to do this for you and like I said, I think that it could be fun. I've been waiting since day one to get you out of those clothes."

"Daniel.."

"I'm really good at putting my foot in my mouth tonight." Daniel laughed and so did Betty.

"What I meant was get you into some normal clothes."

"No designers…"

"Betty, I'm the editor in chief of MODE," said Daniel. "Let me work my magic on you."

"Fine…I'll do it. Just try to remember that I still want to be me," said Betty. "I'm not trying to be the next Giselle."

"I wouldn't want you to be," said Daniel reassuringly. "I just want to polish you up a little bit, so that people can see how beautiful you are on the inside."

"So what did you have in mind?" Betty asked curiously.

Daniel smiled happily. He was extremely pleased that she agreed to do this. "How about you get some beauty sleep and I'll meet you at MODE in the morning? We can get started then."

He added, as he saw Justin peek out the living room window. "How does that sound?"

"Sounds great." She stepped up onto the top of the stairs and opened the door.

"I'll see you then." Daniel smiled. He turned to head back to the waiting town car.

"Hey…" She called out.

"Yeah." He turned back to her.

"Good night, Danny." She smiled.

"Good night, Betty."

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	5. Chapter 5

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the comments and feedback_**. **

* * *

**Chapter Five**

When Betty woke up this morning, she expected some change when she got to work this morning. What she didn't expect was that Daniel would be waiting for her as soon as she stepped out of her front door, ready to whisk her away to her first appointment of the day.

"Wow…you're up early." Betty settled into the back seat beside Daniel.

"I was up most of the night." Daniel raised an eye brow.

"Oh…so Angel was over last night?"

"No…" Daniel grinned brightly. "And I told you last night, I'm trying something new when it comes to the women that I date."

"Then, what's her name?" Betty asked curiously. She had to admit that very intrigued about Daniel's sudden change. She had to wonder if it had anything to do with seeing Jenny from accounting in his office yesterday. It was true that Jenny wasn't the type of woman that he dated. Perhaps, that is what he meant by trying something new.

"Her name is Betty…Betty, I was thinking about you and our plan of attack."

"Oh…" She giggled but she was still not convinced. "So…where are we going?"

"I made some spa appointments for you," said Daniel.

"Already? It's only 8:00 in the morning, Daniel. How did you get an appointment so fast?"

"Well, I made some calls. One of my old girlfriends manages a place. Anyway, she said that she would get you right in, if I took her to dinner tonight. I just know that she is going to expect sex afterwards. "

Betty tried to hide her laughter, as she bit her lip. The tone of Daniel's voice was almost apprehensive. . "Aw….how sweet. Pimping yourself out for my benefit. I'm touched."

"I'm not having sex with that woman. Anyway, I told her a little lie. I told her that I was dating someone and that the dinner was strictly platonic. I think that's probably just going to make her more determined though."

As they moved through the rest of the morning, Betty and Daniel parted ways for a little while. He had some business to take care of while she was being plucked and primped in ways that could probably be considered torture.

With her hair style and her eye brows plucked, Betty was thankful when it came time for the massage. When she came into the room, she saw two massage tables with rose petals, sprinkled about.

"Hey…" She heard a voice.

Betty turned to see Daniel there in a white robe, similar to hers. "What are you doing here?" She pulled her robe tight. "I thought you had something else to take care of."

"I did…and now I'm back. I got you and appointment with Dr. Farkas for this afternoon and I had to get HR to hire a temp for a few days while we work on our project," said Daniel.

"Oh…." She lifted her eyes to his, trying not to focus on his bare chest.

"You look great, Betty." Daniel smiled at her.

"Thanks." She whispered. Suddenly, she felt shyer than she had in her life. "What are you doing in here though?"

"Couple's massage." Daniel replied.

"Couple's massage?" Her heart pounded, as he moved closer. His blue eyes seemed to be looking right through her.

"Okay. I told Denise that you were my girlfriend." Daniel chuckled.

"Me?"

"Yep. I did."

"It's not true." Betty pointed out. Why would he say such a thing?

"I know that and you know that. Anyway, it got me out of that dinner tonight. I guess she thought that you were very sweet and didn't think it would be a good idea."

"Well, I'm glad that I could save you from that," said Betty. "I can imagine that was hard for you to do. She probably thought that I was some charity case. A bet that you lost."

"Betty, don't do that." Daniel reached for her shoulders.

"Do what?"

"Sell yourself short. You need to have confidence in yourself. There is nothing more sexy than a confident woman." He ran his hands down her arms slowly.

Even though, she had the cloth of her robe between her skin and his hands, she could feel herself break out in chill bumps. Suddenly, she understood the reason why almost every woman wanted him.

"I think that is one of the most important things that I can teach you." He said heatedly. "And I plan to teach you a lot of things, Betty."

She could only manage to nod as her heart thumped so loudly that she wondered if he could hear it. She felt her knees threaten to give out on her, as she became hypnotized by him, as he told her about the rest of the plans for the day.

Everything from getting contacts to seeing what they could do about her braces, he had it all planned out. Then tomorrow, he had a line-up of clothes, lingerie, shoes and accessories that was being set up in his office to help with her transformation. He even said something about a practice date on Friday. To be honest though, it was all a blur. She was very distracted

Why this reaction to Daniel now? It's not like she had never seen him in a robe before….or even his underwear.

Betty was starting to question whether or not this whole dating coach thing was a good idea at all. She could not develop a crush on Daniel. It was clear that what was happening here. With every touch and every word, she found herself drawn to him.

Maybe, it was the fact that she hadn't been with anyone since Walter. Maybe, it was the fact that Daniel was being so sweet and caring and that he had opened up to her about his past.

She knew that she couldn't allow herself to get caught up in these new emotions. Daniel was just trying to help her. He was being a friend.

"Betty, are you okay?" He pulled her out of her trance.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She tried to steady her breathing.

"We better get ready for the massages. " He reached for her hand and led her over to the tables.

"Good idea." Betty was suddenly even more nervous. Still, she allowed him to lead her over to the tables. He stopped and let go of her hand.

He lifted his hand to her cheek and then over her now shoulder-length silky hair. Then, he reached for her glasses and removed them.

"Daniel, you know I can't see without those."

"I know…I just want to see something then I'll give them back." He placed the glasses aside and then reached and pulled her bangs out of her face. The touch of his hands so gentle that any thoughts that she was having a few minutes ago came flooding back.

Daniel's hands lingered on her face, so long that she wondered what he could be looking at.

"Daniel, is something wrong?"

"Oh…not at all. Betty, you are so beautiful." Daniel's hands left her face and then he placed her glasses back on her face. "I was just studying your face. Your eyes are beautiful."

Betty felt her face flush with warmth. "Really?"

"Yes." He grinned. "Harold would have to be out of his mind, if he doesn't fall head over heels in love with you."

. "You think so?"

"I know so, Betty." Daniel took her hand once again. "I just need you to believe it. I need you to put as much confidence and uh…passion into your personal relationships, as you do in your work. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"Yes." She lifted her eyes to his and nodded. "I can do that."

"That's my girl." Daniel grinned and kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank you for all this." Betty continued to blush.

"It's just starting for you, Betty. You are going to have men knocking down your door in no time," said Daniel. "I promise."

"I would be happy with just one guy." She said with hint of sadness.

It seemed that Daniel caught that too, as he remained silent for a moment. She couldn't be sure but she could how swore that she saw a tear in the corner of his eye.

"Well, we better get ready for this massage. Okay?" He let go of her hand. "I'll….uh…turn around so that you can get undressed and cover up."

Daniel turned around. She couldn't say that she wasn't a little nervous, as she took off her robe and got underneath the sheet. After all, Daniel was only steps away.

It was part of the experience though. She trusted Daniel to lead her along this path. She needed to take some risks and find that confidence in herself. If Daniel Meade was comfortable with having a couple's massage with her, then she was going to go along with it. She needed to take some risks.

"Okay. I'm covered." Betty let him know once she was in place. She looked over at Daniel and then turned away, wanting to give Daniel the same privacy that he had given her.

Betty couldn't help herself though. She was curious. She turned her head a little and caught the view of Daniel's naked backside.

Her mouth dropped open.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Notes: Thank you for the comments and feedback. I appreciate it._

**Chapter Six**

With coffee and bagels in hand, Daniel did his best to press the button for the twenty-eighth floor, using his elbow. He and Betty had gotten to work early this morning, to start going through the clothing that had been delivered yesterday while they were out of the office.

What a day it had been. It was astonishing what some spa treatments, a new hair style and one slightly eventful orthodontist appointment could do. Betty wasn't just beautiful. She was breathtakingly gorgeous.

As the elevator approached the fifth floor, Harold stepped on with Jenny.

"Hello, Mr. Meade." Harold nodded.

"Uh…hello, Harold…Jenny." Daniel kept his eyes straight ahead. As the elevator went up, Daniel couldn't help but wonder what this guy had that he didn't have. He saw the way that Betty had responded to him the other day.

Daniel knew that this would probably be a good opportunity to get talk up Betty and try to get Harold to make a move. However, he found himself unable to say anything.

He peeked over at Harold, who was in a conversation with Jenny. She too seemed enamored with the new accountant.

Harold wasn't all that different from him. They were the same height. They had the same hair color…and even the same color eyes. If Daniel put on his glasses, they could probably pass for brothers.

Except that Daniel had obviously spent more time at the gym and in much, much better shape than this guy. Harold even looked like his hair was thinning just a bit too.

Two floors later, Daniel watched as Harold and Jenny exited the elevator, still chatting about budgets. When Daniel arrived on the twenty-eighth floor, Amanda was sitting at the reception desk, reading a magazine and ignoring calls.

He just wanted to get to his office without questions about what was going on in his office.

"Heyyy, Daniel." Amanda popped out of her chair and started followed him. "Do you have a minute?"

_Damn…_

"Amanda, I really don't have time." He continued through the tube.

"It will only take a second. What's going on in your office? It's like you have some top-secret project that no one knows anything about. The parade of deliveries was nonstop yesterday and no one would tell me what was in them….but I know that I smell designer shoes and jewelry."

Daniel stopped suddenly, almost spilling the coffee on himself. "It's none of your business, Amanda. You will know when everyone else knows…now, I have to go."

"Well, Barney in security said that you snuck some girl in there this morning in sunglasses and a trench coat. Who is she?" Amanda said boldly and raised an eye brow. "Have you been a naughty boy, Daniel?"

"No…I haven't. I don't have time for this, Amanda."

"Since when do you get your own coffee?" She asked, as he begins his retreat.

"Get back to work."

"Fine…I'll just get it out of Betty." Amanda yelled, as he retreated. "She'd sell her own nephew for a sandwich."

Finally, Daniel made it back to his office. The black-out drapes covered all the windows of his office. A crowd of people gathered whispering about what might be going on inside.

"Get back to work." Daniel ordered. The crowd quickly parted, as he moved toward the door. He heard the door unlock and peek open. He slipped inside.

"I'm so glad you're back." She took the coffee from him. "You are an angel."

"Did you see anything you liked?" Daniel scanned the racks of clothes.

"It's so overwhelming. I barely know where to start." She lifted the coffee cup to her lips. He placed the bag of bagels down on the small glass table. "I can't believe that you did all this for me. I can only imagine what everyone in the office thinks is going on in here."

"I told Wilhelmina that we were working on something special. I really don't think she cares as long as I let her do what she wants to do," said Daniel. "Anyway, I got some bagels before we get started."

Daniel sat on the chaise longue and Betty took a seat beside him. "You are so sweet."

"I figured that you would want something that I don't have all the time because it was tough on your braces," said Daniel. "Or got stuck in your braces."

"I want popcorn. I miss popcorn."

"We could see a movie tonight after work….if you want." Daniel saw an opening and figure that he should take it.

"That sounds like fun." She took a bite of her bagel.

"I saw Harold on the elevator. I was going to try to talk to him but he was deep in conversation with Jenny," said Daniel.

"Well, we still have some time before we have to worry about that. I mean, I still have a lot to learn. I'm not even close to being ready to go out with him, if he's interested."

"Betty, he's interested. Trust me."

"I trust you, Daniel." Her new non-metallic smile pieced Daniel's heart. "I mean, you saved me from Dr. Farkas' office yesterday."

"Well…I guarantee that when the police are done with him, he'll wish that he never made the decision to become a orthodontist." Daniel still couldn't believe that Dr. Farkas had been such a creep and had tried to touch Betty while she was under anesthesia. What was even more appalling was that anesthesia wasn't even needed to remove her braces?

He had been thankful that Betty had asked the receptionist to ask him to come back when he was done with his phone call, so he could be present when her braces were taken off. Otherwise, it made Daniel sick to think of what might have occurred.

Daniel took a deep breath. "I'm just glad I was there."

After that incident, he had been able to find another orthodontist that removed Betty's braces. It seemed that Dr. Farkas had already kept them on way too long.

"Me too. I guess now I know why he kept giving me all that free stuff and trying to get me to go out with him." Betty placed her bagel down.

"Yeah."

"I guess we better get started." She said cheerfully.

"Yes…" Daniel was amazed at how quickly bounced back from yesterday's incident. He hadn't been able to. In fact, his dreams from last night were filled with Betty and keeping her safe. It even went as far as him handcuffing her to him. These dreams were probably something he should keep to himself.

Daniel and Betty got up and walked over to the array of clothes, shoes, accessories.

"Where should start?" She asked. "I hate to say it but you know more about this stuff than me."

"The basics. Panties and bras…lingerie." Daniel's gaze fixed on her face. He knew that she was going to start blushing at the simple mention of the unmentionables.

Right on cue, her cheeks were pink. Daniel broke out laughing.

"What?"

"You are so cute." He teased her, as he picked up a black lace bra. "It's all about presentation, Betty."

He held up the bra to her breasts. "You need to show off what you have…and Betty, you have some amazing breasts and a great ass."

"Daniel…" Her face was red and Daniel could tell that her breathing was heavier. He loved every minute of this. In fact, it only encouraged him to fan the flames, hoping to increase her confidence. He had already seen a dramatic increase in her confidence leave since he picked her up this morning.

"Well, you do. I've seen it with my own eyes." He raised an eye brow suggestively.

"You have not."

"Okay…whatever you say." He wasn't going to come out and admit that he peeked at her in the massage room. He turned his head just enough to get a good idea of what was lying underneath her clothes all this time. Of course, it was purely research. "It's the truth though. I don't have to see underneath your clothing to see that it's true."

She eyed him suspiciously. Her brown eyes bore into him before she broke out in a smile. He put down the black lace bra and picked up an emerald one.

"This one will look amazing with your skin tone." Daniel handed it to her and she took it. "Oh….and you can't forget the matching thong." He held them up.

"I'm not wearing that." She looked at him like he had grown two heads.

"Just try it." Daniel winked.

"It's not like he's going to see my underwear," said Betty.

"No but sooner or later, he will….or someone will and you wouldn't want him to be disappointed." Daniel said playfully.

"I have to get a date first. Aren't we putting the cart before the horse?" Betty bit her lip, bringing Daniel's focus to her full lips.

"Just work with me."

"Okay. I'll try it." Betty took the thong from him. She took a seat on the chaise longue, where he grabbed a few more pieces of lingerie. Then, he moved over to the racks and began going through them at a rapid rate, pulling out dresses that he thought would look accentuate Betty's best assets.

"That's enough. Let me try on these."

"We have to pick out shoes too." He grabbed a few pairs of heels and moved over to her. He knelt in front of her, removing her shoe. Daniel realized that this was probably the most fun that he ever had trying to dress a woman.

"And you have to ditch these tights. They aren't sexy at all." Daniel cradled his leg in his hand. "You have great legs and you need to show them off."

"I like them." She protested.

"Take them off before I take them off for you," said Daniel suggestively. His eyes meant hers.

"You wouldn't." She blushed.

"Oh…I would." Daniel said unwaveringly. His hand worked its way slowly up her leg. Their eyes fixed on one another, daring each other. Daniel was well aware of the boundaries that he was crossing but he was determined.

Just as he moved up her thigh, she stopped him.

"Fine…I'll take off the tights."

"Good. I'm glad that you can see things my way." Daniel said. Betty got up to try n some of the clothes that he had picked out for her. When she did, she fell forward and knocked him backwards onto his back. She toppled onto him.

When they both gathered their senses, Betty rested against his chest. She didn't seem to be making any sudden movement to change her current position.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah." He nodded, as his eyes met Betty's. Daniel smiled, as he brushed her hair behind her ear. It amazed him that even after all the primping, styling and changes that had occurred in the past 24 hours. She was still as clumsy as ever.

"I'm sorry." She said apologetically.

"No need to apologize at all." Daniel chuckled, as he remained on the floor with Betty.

Then, the door of Daniel's office was opened. There stood a man from maintenance department and Daniel's father.

Daniel's hand went to Betty's back protectively. He knew that this wasn't going to be good.

"Daniel, I need to see you in my office." He turned around and started to leave. He then turned around. "And Betty…I want to see you too."

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	7. Chapter 7

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate them_.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Betty couldn't help it but notice how close Daniel was to her, as they sat together in the back of the cab. His arm wrapped around her shoulder protectively as they made their way through the Manhattan traffic on the way to the movies.

"I'm sorry that Hilda gave you the third degree about your intentions while you were waiting for me to finish getting dressed. I hadn't really had the chance to tell her about everything that's been going on."

"That's okay. I filled her in."

"Good. I knew that if I had to explain everything. We were going to be late for the movie…or not even make it out of there tonight."

"I told her that my plan was to take you to the movies, then I planned on taking you back to my place, hand cuff you to my bed and ravish you until morning." Daniel said suggestively.

"What?" Her mouth dropped open.

Daniel chuckled at her shocked expression. "I'm kidding, Betty. Relax, I told her that it was for an article. I didn't mention the whole dating coach thing."

"Oh…" She tried to calm the butterflies that were dancing around in her stomach. "Okay."

"Are you sure that you are okay with seeing _Enchanted_?" Betty asked curiously. "I know you aren't a big fan of fairy tales or any princess-y type stuff."

"I love fairy tales. Who doesn't love a happy ending? I mean….look at you; you're my own personal Cinderella and I just know that you are going to get your happily ever after."

"I've still got to find my Prince Charming."

"What about Harold?" Daniel asked curiously. "Are you giving up on that?"

"I think so. I saw him this afternoon and he and Jenny seemed kind of cozy," said Betty.

"I got that feeling this morning too," said Daniel.

"Harold is nice but I just don't want to get in the way of that. Love triangles are usually not pretty." Betty drew circles on Daniel's hand, trying to distract herself from her boiling emotions. "I really want to avoid that kind of situation, especially after what happened with Henry."

"Well, don't give up. I'm sure that if Harold isn't the guy for you. There could be a lot more possibilities around the corner waiting."

She gazed over at him. "I hope you're right. So…I guess, if I'm your Cinderella that would make you my fairy Godmother." She bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh.

"Well…maybe…but let's drop the fairy part. I'm not Marc."

He added quickly. "I'm all man, Betty."

"I'm sorry I doubted you." She giggled. "I'm sure there are lots of women in this city that could vouch for your manhood."

"I guess, I could be more like the godfather….and give you an offer you can't refuse." Daniel tried his best attempt at a Marlon Brando impression. A real bad impression.

Betty couldn't stop smiling. He was so adorable. "What was that supposed to be?" She teased him.

"Marlon Brando…you know the movie, The Godfather."

"Never seen it." She shook her head.

"Are you serious?"

"I am….but I know enough to know that was horrible impression." She laughed.

"Okay…you are right. I'm glad that I could make you laugh."

"You definitely do that." Betty smiled brightly.

"Well, just for that. Godfather marathon. My place Friday night. I'll cook you dinner and provide lots of popcorn."

"Aww… I wish that I could but I have a date." Betty reminded him. "Remember?"

"That's right." Daniel's tone was laced with disappointment. "I forgot. Well…maybe, he'll cancel. Becks isn't always that reliable."

"Becks." Betty was stunned. "Beckett Scott… you can't be serious. Why would you set me up with him?"

"Because he's safe…and if he doesn't treat you right, he'll have to answer to me," said Daniel. "It's only one date."

"Daniel, he'll try to take off my thong before I'm even out of the cab." Betty said jokingly.

"You're wearing the thong?" Daniel said unwaveringly. His eyes never left hers. "Really?"

"Focus…Daniel," said Betty.

"Which ones? The lace or the silk?" He continued his line of questioning about her underwear.

"Quit thinking about my underwear." She slammed him playfully.

"Hey…you brought them up…now I kind of can't get them out of my mind." Daniel admitted boldly. They came to a stop outside the movie theater.

As Betty processed that, she watched Daniel pay the driver and then he helped her out of the back of the cab. When Daniel closed the door of the cab, he instantly grabbed her hand and his eyes wandered downward.

"Daniel…" Her eyes grew wide. "You are so bad."

"You seem to be bringing that out in me…more and more." Daniel grinned, as he lead her toward the line for tickets. "I try to be good."

"So…is it going to be Enchanted or Saw IV?" Betty tried to draw Daniel's mind away from her underwear. She knew he couldn't help it.

"I told you. It's all about you tonight. You can pick the movie and get your popcorn." Daniel grinned and squeezed her hand tightly.

"We can go see Saw IV." Betty suggested. "I feel like I kind of owe you for all the amazing things you said in your father's office today."

Betty was so sure that she was going to get fired when she and Daniel made the walk to his father's office. Daniel had assured her that he would take care of it. And he did.

Still, she knew that she would never forget the look of disappointment on Mr. Meade's face when he found them in the compromising position. But she also wouldn't forget how proud she was of Daniel for standing up to his father and explaining that the situation was not how it appeared.

He had gone on to explain to his father that the two of them were working on a feature on dating together and his father was actually intrigued by it, giving them his blessing to continue the project.

Betty knew that she would be forever grateful to Daniel for everything he was doing for her. The make over and the dating advice had been great but most of all, she loved all the time she was getting to spend with him. He made her feel truly beautiful….even when he was so forward about the fact that he was thinking about her underwear.

"You don't owe me." Daniel grinned. "It's your choice."

"Are you sure?" Betty asked him again.

"If we see Saw IV, then you are going to have nightmares and then…you will be calling me at 3:00 in the morning to come protect you."

"Mmm…" Betty pressed her lips together. "Well, I guess it would be pay back for all those times that you drunk dialed me and asked me what I was wearing in the middle of the night."

Daniel chuckled. "I did not."

"Oh…you did." Betty smiled brightly. She dropped his hand and slid her hands around his waist and he did the same. She looked up at him and she suddenly felt empowered by the way that he was looking at her.

"Wow…well, did you tell me?"

"No…but you told me what you were wearing and it wasn't much." She giggled playfully. Her heart beat wildly at how close Daniel was to her. The smell of his cologne made her want to rip every single button off his shirt right here in line with all these people.

She didn't….and wouldn't. If she did, they would surely be the subject of Page Six in the morning. What was she thinking though? She was flirting with Daniel. Her newly discovered confidence was leading her to have some very naughty thoughts about her handsome friend.

She had to stop this. Or should she have fun? Daniel seemed to be enjoying it. Perhaps, this was just his way of helping her build up her confidence.

When it came time to move forward through the line, Betty let go of Daniel. He reached for hand right away.

"I was thinking that maybe we could go dancing after this," said Daniel. "There is this club opening that I was invited too. I thought it might be fun to check that out…together, if you want."

He quickly added. "And it would probably be a good opportunity for you to try out your conversation skills before your practice date."

"Okay." She nodded. They moved forward, as his eyes seemed to take in her black and white polka dot Ralph Lauren dress that she had on.

"You look to beautiful tonight for me not to take you out. That dress looks amazing on you."

"Thank you." Betty felt her face flood with warmth.

Soon, they had made it through the line and were seated in the theater with the popcorn that she had been waiting for almost two years. As the movie started and the theater darkened, Daniel casually put his arm around her once again.

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	8. Chapter 8

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate them._

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

Across the room, Daniel sat on the sidelines with a drink in his hand and Betty on his mind. From his spot on one of the club's leather couches, Daniel was in the perfect place to keep an eye on Betty, from his elevated position. If she went onto the dance floor, he could see her. If she went to the bar, he could see her.

Yes. He could see her practice everything that he taught her. Now that she was armed with her new-found confidence, he discovered that Betty was a natural.

In fact, she had gained the attention of several men since they had arrived at the club. It was hard to believe that this was the same woman who had been stood up at the bowling alley several days earlier.

It was though. Betty had bloomed before Daniel's eyes. From a sweet awkward young woman into a sultry seductress, Daniel was increasingly aware as he watched her that it would probably only be a matter of time before she didn't need his instruction any longer.

After tomorrow's practice date and a few more sessions, she wouldn't need him anymore to guide her. She really was the total package. Beauty and brains.

He knew that he should be happy that she was getting ready to spread her wings and fly…so soon. Shouldn't he? Of course, he should.

The bigger problem that was lingering was why it was bothering him so much that she was dancing with that guy. His name was Garrett, according to her text message.

Perhaps, he should just try to connect with one of the women that had been vying for his attention to take his mind away from the activities taking place across the room.

After all, he could take his pick from a blonde, a red head…and a brunette that would be more than happy to give him the much-needed distraction that he needed now.

Yes. He could do that but it would only offer a temporary distraction. A temporary distraction that would lead no-where but another meaningless one-night stand.

He wanted more than that.

It had quickly come to Daniel's attention that while this whole thing started with the intention of teaching Betty how to navigate the dating world. Along the way, she had also been teaching him as well.

And seeing Betty with that guy made Daniel sick. The guy was more interested in the plunging neckline of Betty's polka-dotted dress than what she was saying, as he took a seat beside her and handed her a drink.

For a few more minutes, Daniel watched them, as he fought with himself over what he should do. He promised Betty that he would give her some space tonight as she practice some of her newly acquired skills. After all, having a guy hanging out with her was one way to keep the guys away.

So, he stood back and watched her. There was no way that guy- _or any other guy in that __club_- deserved her though. When he saw the guy place his hand on Betty's leg, Daniel felt himself shift into protective mode.

Daniel quickly made his way through the crowded club and direct to his destination. He was getting Betty out of here. Even though, he knew that Betty was more than capable of taking care of herself. He could see that she would soon be over her head.

"Hey, Betty." Daniel stood before Betty and….whatever his name is. Oh…yeah. Garrett.

"Daniel, hello…" Betty smiled and then took a sip of her drink.

Daniel took a seat beside her and put his arm around her. "So…Betty, I've meant to call you."

"Call me?" Betty narrowed her eyes. "We…."

"We had an amazing night and you thought I forgot about you." Daniel tugged Betty closer to him. He could see that Garrett was not amused. The bonus was that Garrett's hands were no longer on Betty.

Betty's mouth dropped open. "Amazing Night?"

"I promise you, Betty." Daniel lifted his hand to her cheek. "I could never forget about you."

"Listen, I think you need to get lost. I was talking to Betty," said Garrett defensively.

"I will leave if Betty wants me to leave." Daniel gaze fixed on Betty. "Do you want me to leave Betty? Or do you want to get rid of this loser and come home with me? We could do it all over again." He gently brushed his thumb against her cheek.

"Garrett, I really need to talk to Daniel for a minute. Could you get me another drink?" Betty shoved the glass in his hand, still focused on Daniel. Garrett seems to take the glass reluctantly and gets up, leaving them alone.

"Betty, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Dance with me?" Daniel quickly rises from his seat and offers his hand. She just looks up at him, wide-eyed and extremely curious about his behavior.

Betty nodded and placed her hand in his trustingly. He pulled her to her feet and he led her onto the dance floor.

"Daniel, you don't know how to salsa dance?"

"You taught me…over the phone."

"That's right." Betty suddenly remembered. "The Sofia thing."

"Well, that was a disaster but I did get some practice since then and I have to say that I've improved." Daniel would never admit it out loud but he knew immediately that he wanted to bring Betty here, as soon as he got the invitation to this club opening. "I wanted to show off for the teacher who started it all and see if she had any more pointers for me."

"Oh really…" Betty giggled, as Daniel led her onto the dance floor and pulled her to him. He reached for her waist and took her hand. His eyes hungrily met hers.

As they moved back and forth across the dance floor, he spun her around many times. Their bodies moved together flawlessly. His hands moved over her body confidently. His eyes fixed on hers to see her reaction. Her approving expression provided Daniel all the encouragement that he needed to continue their flirtation.

As the song came to an end, Daniel held onto her. Their lips only inches apart. Their eyes locked together. Their breath seemed to be in sync with each other.

He was about two seconds from kissing her, when she pulled back. "I…..I'll be back."

She quickly pulled away and rushed off the dance floor. Daniel knew that he should just let her go. After all, she said that she would be back.

Maybe, she just needed a minute to collect her thoughts. Had he come on too strong? There wasn't anything he wouldn't do to get inside her mind now, so that he could find out if he lost the best thing that ever happened to him.

After a few minutes, he couldn't help himself though. There was something about the look in her eyes that bothered him. His instincts told him to go and find her. He headed off in the direction of the ladies room, hoping to find her.

Thankfully, it didn't take him long to find her, leaning against the wall at the end of the darkened hallway. As he walked towards her, he tried to figure out what to say to her. Never in his life had any woman ever made him feel the way that Betty had in the past few days.

He wanted to spend every second with her.

Her need for popcorn had been a perfect opening for him to ask her to a movie. Then, there was his invitation to cook her dinner and have a nine-hour movie marathon had also been another excuse to spend time with her, apart from their "lessons".

Daniel was clearly becoming aware that there was far more going on here. At least for him…and he was starting to suspect that it might be the same with Betty too.

"Betty, is everything okay?" He figured that was a good place to start. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

She lifted her head and nodded.

"Okay."

Without warning, she moved forward and kissed him fervently. Her tongue was doing all kind of amazing things. Oh…yes, Daniel had discovered that Betty was a natural at a lot of things tonight.

He had discovered that the woman he was kissing also the woman that he had developed feelings for. The woman that he couldn't spend nearly enough time with. The woman he would do anything for.

"Daniel…" Betty came up for air. Her breathing was swallow and hot.

"Do you want me to stop?" Daniel asked her, not wanting to push her.

"No…Don't stop." Betty's lips crashed into his once against as they continued to make out in the darkened hall, despite a presence of a few people who were passing by. They continue for a few minutes but Daniel felt the need to get them both of out of this night club. They needed to take this someplace private.

Just as he was able to tell her that it was time for them to leave, he felt Betty's whole body go limp in his arms.

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	9. Chapter 9

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate it._

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

Betty was awakened by an array of strange banging noises and the smell of smoke. She shot up in bed. It was then that she realized that she wasn't in her own bed or even in her own clothing. Her polka-dotted dress was replaced with an oversized New York Mets t-shirt.

As she began to assess her surroundings, she saw her missing dress hanging on the closet door with her shoe on the floor below it. When her mind started to clear, she realized that she was in Daniel's bedroom and in his bed.

And she had no memory of how she actually got there or what might have occurred last night. How much had she drunk anyway?

Betty knew that this was probably the place where she would start to freak out. However, this was Daniel's apartment and though she didn't know exactly what might have occurred that led her here last night. She remained calm because she trusted Daniel. There had to be a perfectly rational explanation.

Of course, it didn't mean she wouldn't be asking a lot of question when given the chance. She really wanted to know how she ended up in just a t-shirt and nothing else. And would especially love to know what happened to her underwear too.

Or that piece of fabric that tried to pass for underwear…anyway.

Just as Betty was about to attempt to get out of bed and go on a search for the missing undergarment, the bedroom door opened and Daniel entered carrying a tray. She quickly covered her bare legs with the plush comforter.

"You're awake." He moved towards her. "Good Morning. I made you some breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Her stomach growled right on cue.

Daniel grinned in amusement. Apparently, he heard that. He gently placed the tray in her lap. On the tray, she saw coffee, orange juice, toast and some fruit and a yellow flower that looked like it was barely hanging on to life.

"Yeah. I guess you could call it that. The toast is kind of burnt though." Daniel said hesitantly.

Betty smiled. "I see that. I thought I smelt smoke."

"Let's just say that me and the toaster had a disagreement….and I won." Daniel chuckled, as he sat at the foot of the bed. "Now, I have to buy a new one."

"I pick one up for you when I run your errands next week." Betty said as she took a sip of her juice.

Daniel got up and started to leave. "I'll let you eat your breakfast. I'll…"

"Stay with me."

"Okay." He sat back down.

"Do you want some?" Betty offered a piece of her cut-up fruit that he had prepared.

"No…I'm good." Daniel said with a hint of shyness. In fact, this was probably the first time that she had ever seen her friend show a hint of it, leading her to wonder what actually occurred last night.

"Daniel, what happened last night?" Betty took in a deep breath and exhaled quickly. Her eyes fixed on Daniel. "I don't even remember how I got here."

"I brought you home with me from the club. Do you remember being there?"

Betty searched her memory. "Yes…I do remember that. We went after the movie. Right?"

"Yes." Daniel nodded.

"And then I was talking to some guy. I remembered dancing with him and we had a few drinks. Then, I remember you coming up to us and saying something. I can't remember what." She tried to remember anything after that but came up empty. "I can't remember anything after that. Oh…God. What happened?"

Daniel's eyes left her for a moment and then returned. "That guy must slipped something in your drink. I knew I should have kept a closer eye on you. I'm so sorry, B."

"I'm such an idiot." Betty bit her bottom lip. "How could I be so stupid?"

"I'm just glad that I stepped in when I did. There was no telling what he would have done if my instincts would have told me….to step in." Daniel said solemnly. "I feel responsible that I didn't warm you that something like this could happen."

Betty could see that Daniel was clearly upset about what had happened. "You can't blame yourself, Daniel. And like you said, nothing happened because you jumped in and took care of me…protected me. Just like you always do."

"That might be true but when you collapsed in my arms, Betty….I have to admit that I've never more terrified in my life." Daniel moved down on the bed a little, enough to be able to touch her hand. "I thought I would take you to the hospital but then you woke up in the cab and I figured that it was probably okay to bring you back here and let you sleep it off."

"Where did you sleep?" Betty asked curiously.

"In bed with you." Daniel said in almost a whisper.

"In bed with me." Her eyes widened.

He quickly added. "On top of the covers. I….I…actually sleep though. I stayed up and made sure that you were okay. I don't know what I would have done if anything happened to you. You are one of my best friend, Betty."

"That's sweet. Thank you for that, Daniel." She was suddenly filled with gratitude for him. He not only fixed her breakfast but he stayed up all night for her.

Betty glanced over at the clock and saw that it was almost eleven in the morning. "Daniel, we need to go to work."

"I'm working from home today and I told Amanda to cover my phones because you were out sick," said Daniel. "There is no way that I'm letting you go anywhere until you are feeling better."

He added. "How are you feeling? Do you have a headache? I probably should get you some water or something."

"Just a little foggy. I guess. Other than that, I'm okay." She shrugged. "But I do need to know something Daniel."

"Anything."

"How did I get out of my clothes?" Betty wondered if she really wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Well…" Daniel said. "I helped you."

Betty's eyes widened a bit, as she felt her face flood with warmth. "Oh."

"I promise that I didn't do anything to you. I wouldn't…" He said defensively. "I pulled the blanket over you and then…"

"Daniel, it's okay." She stopped him. There was no need for him to explain. She trusted him. "But was it necessary to take off my underwear?"

"Oh…I didn't take your underwear off. You took them off on the ride home….all by yourself," Daniel was clearly amused.

Betty groaned. "I did not?"

"Yes, you did." Daniel patted her hand. "So…if you worried about me getting you un-dressed and seeing your cute butt then…well, that bridge was already crossed before we got home, sweetheart."

"Where is my underwear now?" Betty asked cautiously. She knew this was another question that she was going to regret asking.

"I think they ended up somewhere on Spring Street." Daniel said playfully.

Betty couldn't help it. She was embarrassed by her behavior. "Daniel, how could you let me do that?" She continued to play with her breakfast, suddenly not very hungry. She could only imagine what Daniel thought of her.

"I tried to stop you but I just ended getting a lap full of you when the cab driver almost ran off the road because you mooned him." Daniel raised an eye brow.

Betty placed another of grapefruit in her mouth and placed the fork down on the tray. "Okay…I think I'm to crawl underneath the bed and hid out for the rest of my life." She took her eyes away from Daniel.

"Betty, come on. You're fine. I got you home with the rest of your clothes intact. Things could be so much worse. No one knows that this happened except the two of us…and the cab driver. I was able to get you out of the back door of the club and into a cab."

He added. "And just so you know, I called Hilda and told her that you were staying over with me because we got in so late. I also told her that we might be working tonight too."

"I'm sure she loved that." Betty said.

"Actually, she seemed fine with it. She was just glad you were safe," said Daniel. "If anything would have happened, I would have called them. I promise."

"I know. I trust you. I just can't believe that all that happened," said Betty.

"Yeah….well, it was a lot for one night." Daniel said solemnly. "It did make me realize a lot of things and I'm thinking of taking this whole dating coach thing in another direction. Last night….well, it kind of opened my eyes to a few things."

"Like?"

"How about we worry about that later? You need to get some rest."

"Daniel, I was supposed to go out with Becks tonight," said Betty.

"I called him and postponed that," said Daniel. "Tonight, you have a date with me. I'm cooking dinner and we are going cuddling up on the couch and have that movie marathon. How does that sound?"

"Nice." She smiled subtly, feeling a little more at ease. She really didn't want to go out with Becks, even if it was for practice. Spending the evening with Daniel sounded right up her alley right now. "Actually, it's perfect."

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	10. Chapter 10

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate every one of you. You keep me going with my writing._

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

As they pulled up outside the Gershwin Theatre, Daniel took a deep breath, wishing that he was anywhere but here. He wanted nothing more than to be at home with Betty, watching movies and cooking dinner for her.

Instead, she was back at his apartment, resting. While he was out on the town, trying to charm Sandra Winthrop into advertising with MODE; a "meeting" that he had totally forgotten about in the wake of last night's events and his worry over Betty.

In the past, Daniel probably wouldn't mind trying to use his skills to his advantage. Now, it seemed wrong, especially when the object of his affection was at home in his bed, watching the array of Disney DVDs that he bought her when Amanda called and reminded him about tonight's meeting.

He was half way through the meeting though. Dinner went relatively well and he was almost sure that he had sealed the deal with most of his integrity intact. He just hoped that this cougar wasn't looking for more than a hug good night. And then he would be back home ready to watch Beauty and the Beast and snuggle up with her.

It still amazed Daniel that he would rather be there with her than out on the town soaking up the attention of the paparazzi. In the grand scheme of things and in the light of his new found affection for his assistant and friend.

"Ms. Winthrop…." He lead her down the staircase.

"Daniel, I've told you a thousand times to call me Sandra." She purred.

"Uh…Sandra, I hope that you'll consider advertising with MODE," said Daniel. "I know that Winthrop Jewelry's revenue has dropped 15%..."

"I don't want to discuss business right now." She touched his arm in a rather suggestive way. "Maybe, at the end of the night, we can talk it over."

Daniel didn't like where this was leading now. The tone in her voice told him that she was expecting to seal this much-needed deal in another way.

He was in so much trouble. Just when he went to look for the nearest exit, he looked up the stairs and saw Betty and Becks coming towards him.

"Betty….hi!" Daniel said uncomfortably. Sandra grabbed onto his arm. "What are you doing here?"

He saw the smirk on Becks' face, as he assessed Betty like she was a pork chop and it was time for dinner. Daniel had left Becks a message that tonight was cancelled. Apparently, he didn't get the message or chose to ignore it when he saw Betty's recent changes. Either way, he was ready to exchange words with his old friend.

"I rescued Betty from a night of boredom," said Becks. "That's blonde chick from MODE, Amanda got us tickets right next to you guys."

Daniel stared at Betty for a moment. She looked so pretty wearing one of the dresses that he recognized from those that Betty had tried on a few days early. A green one cinched at the waist with a butterfly belt. Leave it to Betty to mix designers with her own personal touch.

"Well, Daniel…aren't you going to introduce me to your little friends." Sandra said with a slightly awkward tone.

"Sandra, this is my friend, Becks and my…gir….assistant, Betty. You guys, this is Sandra Winthrop." She shook Betty and Becks'hands. "One of our potential new advertisers."

"He's wooing me." Sandra said suggestively, petting him behind the ear. "I told him that I liked the theater, so here we are."

Daniel's eyes were fixed on Betty's and he thought he was going to be ill. He had to wonder if it was killing her that he was with Sandra, as much as it was killing him to see her with Becks.

How he wished that he had the courage to just walk away from this night and this meeting and tell Betty about his feelings? He knew what the cost could be though. His job at MODE was at stake. Of course, he could only hope his reward would be Betty's heart, if he chose the latter. What a reward that would be?

He had to get this advertiser if he were to have any future at MODE. He needed to get back in his father's good graces. Otherwise, he would be unemployed and then what would Betty want with him then. Independently wealthy wasn't exactly an honorable occupation.

Once he got through this night and secured the advertising, he could would deal with his feelings for Betty. He would confront her about the possibilities of them. After all, Daniel couldn't think of a better way to teach Betty how to date than to explore that territory together. As worldly as Daniel was, he knew that Betty could teach him so much because she already had.

As they all headed into the theater, Daniel kept a close watch on Becks, who seemed to find any excuse to touch Betty. When Becks' hand moved over Betty's backside, Daniel let out a little chuckle when he saw Betty give him a dirty look and swiftly swatted his hand away.

Once they arrived at their seats, the show began shortly afterwards. Daniel was doing his best to keep his flirtation with Sandra light, just enough to get her to advertise and hopefully not let Betty think that he was a total dog, un-worthy of her. Just after he tried the old armrest boob graze, he heard Betty's call out to him.

"Daniel…" When he saw her face, he knew that he was in trouble.

Daniel leaned forward. "What?"

"What are you doing? Please don't tell me that you are trying to put the moves on that client?"

"No…" Daniel knew it was a lie. He was just simply flirting and no intention of sleeping with this woman for her advertising even though he had a feeling that is what the woman wanted.

"Daniel…" He could see that she clearly didn't believe him.

"Maybe." Daniel said hesitantly.

"Daniel, I know that you need this advertiser but you don't have to reduce yourself to seductive measures." Betty raised her eyebrow, as she leaned over Becks, who was seated between them.

"Shh…." Becks rolled his eyes.

"Oh…shut up, Becks. You know you don't care anything about Wicked. You are more interested Betty's chest." Daniel said sharply. "And Betty, I'm not good at things like Alexis is. I can't sell the magazine. So, I have to sell myself."

"You are better than this, Danny."

"Danny?" Becks narrowed his eyes.

His and Betty's eyes still connected while no further words were exchanged. Suddenly, Betty got up and made her way out of the theater.

Daniel knew that he would look back on this exact moment as one of those that changed his life forever. Whatever he chose to do, it would determine what his future would hold.

There was no question though about what he needed to choose when it came down to a moment like this. Daniel was not going to be like Henry and chose something else over Betty. Right now, there was only one choice, even if it cost him MODE. Alexis could have it if that is what she wanted.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go check on Betty." He said to Sandra. Then he got up and made his way out of the theater in search of her. When he got into the lobby, he saw Betty standing at the end of the grand staircase.

"Betty…" Daniel moved quickly towards her. She started walking away from him, moving down a hallway to get away from him. "Betty, wait."

"Daniel, just leave me alone." She moved quicker and rushed down a back hall, after her. She ducked into a small room, filled with props for the show.

"No…I'm not leaving you alone, Betty." He caught her by the arm.

"You really don't owe me an explanation, Daniel." She turned around to face him. "I'm sorry that I over reacted. I've just…."

"Just what?" Daniel asked curiously.

"It's nothing." She shook her head, unable to look at him. "Let's just go back to our seats…so you can continue your wooing."

"Betty, stop it. What's going on here?" Daniel's heart was beating wildly, as he wondered if Betty had remembered something from the night before. He was almost sure that she had because of the flash in her eyes. He saw some jealousy there; something that had not been there when he hugged her good-bye earlier this evening. "You've seen me romance clients before."

"Daniel, let's just go back." She tried to move past him. He blocked her though.

"No…we aren't going anywhere." Daniel said firmly. He took his hand and reached for her chin, bringing her eyes to meet his. "Until we talk about this."

"There is nothing bothering me." Betty continued her defense.

"Why did you come here tonight?" Daniel asked, as he moved a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He stepped closer. "Did you remember something important?"

"I…" Then, Betty bit her bottom lip. Her gaze was so innocent and sweet that Daniel led to his undoing. He couldn't hold back any longer. He moved in and kissed her passionately.

At first, Betty was tense and shocked at his sudden move. Then, she slowly gave in, as he pulled her to him and she wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss further. That kiss brought the memories of the previous night flooding back and he knew that nothing would ever be the same. It was almost like they were floating on air.

When he and Betty got home tonight, they would have so much to talk about. At the moment, talking was the last thing on Daniel's mind though.

As they broke apart, Daniel became increasingly aware that they were no longer on the ground. In fact, they were hanging in the air in front of a very awestruck audience.

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	11. Chapter 11

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you so much for the feedback and comments. I really hope that you guys are still enjoying this story. I don't usually do a song with my chapters. I love music but sometimes it's hard for me to pin down that perfect song. As I was working on this chapter, I was watching that episode of Ugly Betty, where they went to see Wicked. I love the song from Wicked and I think was very fitting on how Betty is feeling in this chapter._

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

Song: I'm Not That Girl- from the musical Wicked

_Hands touch, eyes meet__  
__Sudden silence, sudden heat__  
__Hearts leap in a giddy whirl__  
__He could be that boy__  
__But I'm not that girl_

_Don't dream too far__  
__Don't lose sight of who you are__  
__Don't remember that rush of joy__  
__He could be that boy__  
__I'm not that girl_

_Ev'ry so often we long to steal__  
__To the land of what-might-have-been__  
__But that doesn't soften the ache we feel__  
__When reality sets back in_

_Blithe smile, lithe limb__  
__She who's winsome, she wins him__  
__Gold hair with a gentle curl__  
__That's the girl he chose__  
__And Heaven knows__  
__I'm not that girl_

_Don't wish, don't start__  
__Wishing only wounds the heart__  
__I wasn't born for the rose and the pearl__  
__There's a girl I know__  
__He loves her so__  
__I'm not that girl_

* * *

Under a fury of attention, Daniel ushered Betty into a cab after they had been thrown out of the theatre for causing the whole show to come to a stand-still. Since they had been brought back down to the ground, neither of them had even had a chance to breath, much less talk about what had happened.

What hadn't happened though? Daniel kissed her. She kissed him back. She still didn't know what had come over her there.

The only plea she could offer was insanity. She had been driven to insanity when she saw THAT WOMAN treating Daniel like he was her trophy.

_Her boy toy. _

Daniel was so much more than that. How could anyone not see what an amazing heart that he had? He was handsome, smart…and an amazing kisser.

And most important of all, he was her best friend and she was falling head over heels in love with him..

_She loved him. _

But she was not THAT GIRL. She was not the type of girl that Daniel kissed….like he did. She was not the type that he would end up with.

She knew that Daniel would marry a beautiful socialite with long blonde hair and the perfect figure. THAT GIRL is the type that he would ultimately marry.

Men like Daniel didn't end up with girls from Queens. Not even after when they've had a make-over.

Regardless, she knew that Daniel cared for her. He had shown her a side of him that she knew that he had hidden from the world. And while she couldn't explain THAT kiss, she still knew that she needed to keep herself from reading anything into it.

_What a kiss it was though? _

The feelings rushed back as the two of them sat in the backseat in silence, headed towards Daniel's Soho loft. When they jumped in, Daniel told the driver he would tip him extra, if he could make it speedy.

As they traveled through the city, Betty grew tenser, as they moved through the traffic. The closer they got, the more nervous that she felt about what was going to happen when they got there.

Before she knew it though, they were there. Daniel threw a couple twenty dollar bills at the driver and then took her hand.

"Come on." He helped her out of the cab and closed the door. "I want to get inside before any paparazzi show up. I wouldn't doubt if they were following us. I don't want them to see you….us."

"We wouldn't want that. Now would we?" Betty said. He was in such a hurry that it stung. Was he embarrassed by what happened? This is exactly why she wasn't the type of girl that he would want.

"No..." Daniel pulled her up the stairs. "They are going to be talking enough. It's just going to make things worse."

Once they reached his loft, Betty let go of Daniel's hand and headed back to the bedroom. She had to get out of here. She was going home. She had to get out of there before he saw her cry.

She couldn't let herself cry. It would only lead to him feeling sorry for her, telling her what she wanted to hear. Why had she let herself get involved in this dating coach thing?

Falling for her best friend and her boss had not been in the cards. The quicker that she could get away the better, the quicker they could both get past this.

"Betty, where are you going?" Daniel took off his jacket, moving towards the closet to hang it up.

"I'm so sorry, Daniel. I messed up everything." Betty felt the tears start to rise into her eyes.

He closed the closet door and moved towards her. "Whoa…sweetie, you aren't going anywhere. Not tonight. Not ever…" He took her bag from her hand, tossing it back on the bed. He turned her body towards him. "At least not if I have anything to do with it."

She lifted her eyes to his. Betty figured it would be better to focus on the work part of what happened tonight. Avoid the subject of that kiss. "You lost the advertiser."

"Maybe…maybe not. Becks sent me a text and said something about trying to nail it for me." Daniel gave her a mischievous grin. "Since I was, otherwise, occupied."

Betty couldn't help but laugh through her tears. It was clear what that meant.

"I don't even care right now what the cost is. I just know that I can't lose you, Betty." He held onto her. The sincerity in his voice made her heart pound. "Now, I want you to get undressed and meet me in the living room. We need to talk about everything that happened tonight."

"Daniel…" She sighed.

Daniel reached forward and swiftly unfastened her butterfly belt. "Don't make me un-dress you and put you in your pajamas because I will. I told you that you aren't going anywhere tonight."

His hands reached down to touch hers. His eyes met hers. As they stood there in silence, she felt her heart leap once again, as she felt the heat of his gaze upon her.

"Okay." She knew she wasn't going to be able to run from him. He would only follow her.

"Good." He gave her a quick kiss before he parted and went about getting un-dressed. He dropped her hands and moved around behind her. Moving her hair out of the way and sliding the zipper down her back. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

Before she could turn around, Daniel was headed into the bathroom, stripping his shirt off as he went.

Just as she promised him, she changed out of her clothes and got into her sleepwear. Ten minutes later, she went into the living room and saw him sprawled out on the couch, waiting for her. His eyes stared at the ceiling until he sensed her presences.

"So…I guess we have to talk." Betty wanted to ease herself into the conversation. Suddenly, she couldn't just ease into it because her mind was racing.

"Betty…" Daniel quickly moved to his feet.

"Daniel, let me talk. I don't know why you kissed me." Betty made a few small steps to close the distance between them. "Maybe, it was just your way of getting me to be quiet. I know that this is going to cause you all kind of problems. It's going to be all over the tabloids. You still could lose that much needed advertiser…and I know that your father is not going to be happy about any of this. I don't think that he is going to approve of your methods of coaching me."

Daniel held out his hand. "Come here, please."

"Daniel, I'll take the blame for all of it." She took a deep breath. "I'll go to your father and tell him…" Betty stood before him.

"I love you." Daniel said quickly.

"What?" Betty couldn't believe that she just heard Daniel say what she thought he just said. In fact, she had to be mistaken. She couldn't be that girl. "Daniel, what…"

"I've fallen in love with you." Daniel repeated.

"You are going to tell your father that you've fallen in love with me, so that he doesn't fire both of us." Betty had to admit it wasn't the worse idea.

"No…You don't understand, Betty" Daniel pulled her down onto the couch with him. They sat facing each other. Their knees touched. He brought his hand up. "I'm in love with you."

"You can't be." Betty whispered. "You can't be. I'm not that girl. I'm not what you need."

"You are exactly what I need." He brought his hand to rest over her heart. "Everything good in my life is because of you, Betty. All this time, I was trying to help you find your way so that you could find love and find the happiness that you deserve. The joke was on me though because every moment that we spent together just made me fall in love with you more and more."

He added. "And the other night when that guy drugged you, you kissed me and then you passed out in my arms. I …"

"You were so scared." Betty remembered him telling her that this morning when she had woken up to breakfast in bed. Now, it was clear that was his attempt to not only take care of her after the events of the night before, but his attempt to romance her. He had also clearly stated that he cancelled the practice date with Becks for a date with him at home.

Of course, that was before he had to go try to woo that woman into advertising with MODE.

"So…do you mean it?" Betty asked once again.

"Yes. I do." He said sincerely.

"I guess I'll have to get a new dating coach then." Betty said playfully. She had to admit that there was still part of her that really didn't believe that any of this was really happening. She figured that soon she would wake up and it would have all been a dream.

"No way!" Daniel scooted closer. "You are all mine, Ms. Suarez. Besides, I'm sure that we can help each other navigate...things from here."

Betty smiled shyly, as his face drew closer to hers. "I guess we do make a pretty good team."

**PLEASE REVIEW.**

_(There will be more conversation between them in the next chapter before the story moves forward. I just didn't want to leave you waiting another day and figured that this was a good place to stop for now.)_


	12. Chapter 12

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate it._

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

There were so many things that Daniel had done in his life that he wasn't proud of. Long ago, he had hidden away the part of him that he thought no one could love, using his womanizing as a way of dealing with his dysfunctional family and other issues.

He never would have guessed that the one time that he opened up and showed that hidden of part of himself to someone; it would lead him to discover the one person that loved him for exactly who he was and not for what everyone saw on the outside.

With his Betty sprawled across his lap, she leaned in and kissed him gently. His fingers danced along her back. He found that his touch was a necessity for him to even begin to believe that this was real.

She was real though. Very, very real.

Daniel was mystified on how he could have worked so closely with her for over a year and never known that she would have the ability to evoke these types of feelings in him. It made him want to go back in time and tell himself to see past the loud outfits and the red poncho…and see her amazing heart. A heart that Daniel had discovered fit his perfectly. Her lips felt like magic against his.

Just like that, he knew that nothing would be the same after tonight. And Daniel was ready for whatever lied ahead for himself and for him and Betty together.

"Would you like to tell me why you ended up at the theatre with Becks tonight?" Daniel pressed his forehead to Betty's.

"Well, he showed up here with the tickets to see Wicked and I really hated to see them go to waste," said Betty.

"Nothing more?" Daniel asked curiously, as he casually unbuttoned the lowest button her pajama top.

"You can't possibly think that I would actually be interested in Becks." She whispered. "Seriously?"

"He seemed plenty interested in you." Daniel said seriously, as he unbuttoned another button. His hands stuck just inside her top, relishing the feeling of her bare skin.

"I assure you. I am not interested in him." She smiled at him shyly. "I'm not his type. Beside, I'm still having a hard time accepting the fact that you are interested in me…and that we've been making out on your couch for the past half hour."

"Believe it, baby." Daniel said confidently.

Then an expression of unease crossed her face. "Daniel, you are my boss."

"And…" Daniel raised an eye brow. "You told me that you were feeling something too."

"I am…It's just this is wrong in so many ways," said Betty.

"Betty, we don't need to think about that. Right now, we aren't at work. There are no rules being broken. We are consenting adults." Daniel moved forward and gave her a quick kiss.

"What about when we get back to work though? Everyone is going to call me Daniel's girl," said Betty.

"You are Daniel's girl." He said playfully.

"How can you take this so lightly?"

"Because I think following our hearts is more important that what everyone else thinks," said Daniel.

"I know." She ran her hand over the back of his head. "You make it sound so easy."

"I didn't say it was going to be easy but we fell in love, Betty." Daniel knew that he was grinning like a love sick school boy. He couldn't help it though. He was so insanely happy right now. "This is hardly a meaningless fling…so I think that has to count for something with my father…or anyone else for that matter."

He took a deep breath, taking in every inch of her beautiful face. "Really though, I don't care what anyone says. I would proudly tell the world that you are the woman that I love and deal with any consequences that come from it."

Betty smiled, biting her lip slightly. "You really do love me?"

He moved in and kissed her again. Just as he pulled back, he spoke softly against them. "I do." Then, he moved in once again to kiss her, more passionately this time. His hands moved to unbutton another button and then another, as he continued to kiss her.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a cell phone ringing across the room, breaking Daniel's concentration.

"My phone." Betty broke away breathless from their kiss, obviously recognizing the unique ring tone.

"I'm not letting you answer that." Daniel made a beeline for her neck, gently kissing and sipping on her soft skin.

"It's Hilda…Oh…I bet that our little incident hit the news. Justin probably saw it. You know it's practically glued to Fashion TV."

"It can wait a few minutes." Daniel assured her, as he pulled back so he could see her face. "A few minutes isn't going to change anything."

"Hilda has been covering for me since the other night. She told my dad that I've been working on some important project with you…and that I've been coming home late and leaving early. She's been hopping in and out of my window to make it look like I've been sleeping in my room.

"Okay…I think I need to see some ID. How old are you again?" Daniel said joking.

"Very funny." She slapped him playfully "I'm so glad that you think this is funny."

"Betty, it'll be fine. Your family loves me…and I'll take you home first thing in the morning and we'll deal with it together. I'll talk to you father…tell him that I'm madly in love with his daughter." Daniel runs his thumb along Betty's flush cheek. "And that I plan to spend every waking moment trying to make her happy."

"As wonderful as that would be, you need to deal with your own father. If he hasn't heard about this, he will soon. I'm surprised that your phone isn't ringing."

Just then, Daniel heard his own cell phone ring. Why couldn't everyone just leave the two of them alone? He just wanted to spend time with Betty alone, so they could explore their feelings together.

"See…" Betty pointed toward the counter, where Daniel had left his phone. "That's probably your father. Daniel, I don't have a good feeling about this."

"I'll deal with it, Betty. " He tried to sound sure of himself but he wasn't sure what he was going to say to his father. At this point, it didn't really matter. He knew whatever he did. It would never live up to his father's expectations. The only thing that Daniel did care about right now was Betty and making himself happy for the first time in really long time.

"Okay." Betty said simply. There was just a hint of hesitation in her voice.

"What is it?"

"Daniel, your father hired me so that you wouldn't be tempted to sleep with me. He isn't going to be happy about this. I mean…I was sure that he was going to fire me the other day when he found us on the floor of your office. Now, he is going to think that we were making up the whole article thing just to cover up something."

Daniel could see that this was really bothering Betty. He couldn't blame her. Somehow, he would figure a way out of this, even if it meant that they both had to leave MODE together.

"Honestly, I don't care what he thinks. He obviously didn't care about any of us when he was sleeping with Fey behind mom's back. He didn't care about anyone else when he divorced my mom and got engaged to Wilhelmina. As far as the not sleeping with you part, well…I assure you he was very wrong." His hand continued its journey upwards.

"Daniel…" Betty broke away and pushed him away gently. "Maybe we should slow down…. At least for now."

He pulled his hand away and did as she told him, not wanting to pressure her. There was no way that he wanted to screw this up. "Of course."

Daniel would just take comfort in the fact that she was here, had feelings for him and was in his arms. He did his best to shield his disappointment from her though.

Slowing things down could be a good thing; actually make that a great thing. It was different than any other relationship that he had ever had and he wanted to keep it that way. Maybe, fast and furious wasn't the way to go here. Slow and steady was clearly the right path.

"You aren't disappointed." Betty asked shyly. "Are you?"

"No…" Daniel kissed the tip of her nose. "As long as I have you with me, I couldn't really ask for more than that. So…you will stay tonight?"

"I don't know." She smiled brightly. "Now that things have changed, I don't know if I can trust you to behave yourself."

"Oh…you can trust me. I'll be good." Daniel murmured as he continued his earlier task. "So…so good."

Her giggled echoed through the room. "Is that so?

He grabbed her and flipped her onto the sofa. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. With the sound of their ringing cell phones, Daniel kissed Betty and tried to forget about the world outside their door and what might be waiting for them on the other side.

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	13. Author's Notice

Dear Readers:

After some arguments going on in the Ugly Betty section of this site, I am considering leaving . While the comments were not on one of my stories, it was on the story of another fellow Detty writer. She is s writer that always pours her heart into her writing, as well as a lot of time. Fan fiction is supposed to be fun. After all, we are not paid to write these stories. We write them out of the enjoyment that they bring to ourselves and others. If someone is reading Fan fiction to pick on someone's grammar or the content of ones stories, they have way too much time on their hands.

I'm going to take a few days to finalize what I'm going to do. At this point, I am considering starting a private community for Detty Fanfiction (Probably on LiveJournal). It would be a place for me to post and other to post their writings, in a positive environment. This is something that I've considered in the past. However, I'm at the point where I think that it might be better to move onto another site. It's either that or stop writing Detty altogether.

Either way, this is a shout out to those that might want to follow to a private community, please response in a PM or comment if you wouldn't mind follow to a page other than Fanfiction.

Thanks

TMadison (Heather)


	14. Author's Notice- 2

**Dear Readers:**

**We are setting up a community on Live Journal. There, we are going to create a positive environment. I am sorry that one person has to ruin it for everyone. My readers do mean everything to me. I'm not ruling out a return Fan fiction . net in the future. For now, I am moving on to another place to write Detty Fan fiction, even though every thing I have ever written on this site has come from my own mind...despite what some others may say. **

**If you would like to join the new community, there are several ways that you can do that. The first would be to go to Live Journal and create a user ID name. You may then PM me your user name here on Fanfiction . net and I'll send you and invitation through Live Journal**

**If you are a member of The Bachelor and The Butterfly on Live Journal, you may also go there to follow a link to that site and request membership to the new site- Daniel and Betty Forever- An Ugly Betty Fan fiction Community.**

**You will need a user ID to access the posts on this community and to make any comments. I welcome anyone that enjoys Detty Fan fiction. **

**Thank you for your support and I hope to see you there. If you have an questions, please let me know. I'll be happy to help you.**

**TMADISON**


	15. Chapter 15

**Falling- Chapter 13**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty. I don't make any money off these stories. This is my own writing and not borrowed from anyone else._

_Author's Note: At the request of a few readers that haven't joined my private community, I will be posting the remaining chapters of this story. However, all future stories will only be posted in the private community. If you are interested, please PM me or contact me on LiveJournal. My username on Live Journal is dnbmeade ._

* * *

In the back of the town car, Betty didn't even try to stop Daniel's hand from roaming underneath her coat as he kissed her. All she wanted now was for him to touch her. She was insatiable.

It was as if last night had not been enough to quench the desire that Daniel had unleashed last night in his loft. They had agreed to take things slow but they had failed.

When Betty woke up in Daniel's arms this morning, she was astonished that she had absolutely no regrets about what happened when them. In fact, she was amazed how natural it felt to be with him.

Being with Daniel was also one of the most freeing experiences of her life. Her whole life, Betty has been the type of person that had been cautious about her actions and afraid of taking chances. She over-thought everything.

With Daniel, she knew she should be terrified of taking a chance on a man like Daniel. After all, everyone else saw him as this handsome playboy that could have his pick of a parade of women. Another reason she knew that she should running was that Daniel was far more experienced than she was and almost nine years older.

Yes. She should be terrified but she wasn't. Once her initial hesitation melted anyway, she simply took Daniel's hand and embarked on what she knew would be one of the most unbelievable experiences of her life.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go in there with you?" Daniel asked, as he tried to steady his breath between kisses. His breath was hot against her cheek. It made her heart pound harder and harder.

"No…" She shook her head and tried to compose herself, as they got closer to her family's house in Jackson Heights. "You need to go see your father. I'm sure that he's probably livid that you have been ignoring his calls all night."

"Well, I was kind of distracted by the gorgeous woman in my bed that kept me up most of the night." Daniel said.

Betty giggled. "Well…perhaps. However, I think that I would rephrase that when you talk to your dad."

"I think I would rather go with you."

"No…He probably saw the piece on Fashion Buzz and then there were the pictures of us on stage last night that showed up on Page Six this morning. It's better if we face this head on."

Daniel chuckled. "Oh….really." He raised an eye brow.

"Yes. Really." She said playfully.

"Is that why you wanted to get home early enough to climb in your bedroom window before your dad wakes up?" Daniel said unwaveringly. "Is that your idea of facing things head on?"

"Daniel, I left the house two nights ago to go to a movie with you and Hilda has been covering for me ever since," said Betty. "I just don't think that we need to fill everyone in on every detail of the past few nights."

"It's in the paper and on television. He's going to see it. Isn't Justin practically glued to Fashion TV?"

"I can easily bribe him with something from The Closet." Betty smiled, as she felt the car come to stop. "Hilda told him to keep his mouth shut. He will do anything for Prada."

"Well, anything you need, it's all yours…as long as you have dinner with me tonight." Daniel ran his hand up her leg. "Maybe…stay over."

"I should probably stay home tonight…since I've kind of been missing in action for the past few days." Betty brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Think about it?"

"I'll think about it." Betty agreed.

"Good…because I think some more time together could be very beneficial…so that we are able to keep our hands off each other when we get back to work on Monday." Daniels aid convincingly.

"That's if I have a job that is."

"Betty, we've been over this. I'm not going to let my dad fire you." He placed his hand on her arm. "I will figure something out. I'll handle this. I promise."

He added. "I'm sure that he is going to be thrilled that we managed to land Winthrop Jewelry."

Betty rolled her eyes and smiled. "Don't you mean that Becks singlehandedly got Sandra to move over from Glamour and take out a full page ad in each issue for the next year."

She chuckled. "So…technically, he was the one that landed that advertiser."

"There was no way that I was going to sleep with her to get her advertising," Daniel lifted his hand to her cheek and got this soft look in his eyes. "Especially when the price for that would have been losing you."

A smile rose to her face. "I love you."

"I love you too, Betty." He gave her a quick kiss. "You better get inside before someone sees the car sitting outside."

"You're right." She opens the door and then leans back to give him a kiss again. "I'll see you later."

"I'll call you after I get done seeing my dad and let you know how that goes."

"Okay." She nodded and then quickly made her way out of the car.

As she closed the car door, she watched the car pull away. Then she looked up at the house and took a deep breath. She didn't look forward to that climb up to her bedroom window; something that she had never attempted ever. She wondered if she would be better off to just go through the front door, like a normal person.

Of course, she knew that would also mean taking a chance of being caught. She knew that her father often fell asleep in the living room waiting television. She looked up at the window and made her way to the alleyway and began her climb.

When she was half way up when she lost her footing, she screamed out and fell towards the ground. When she landed, she didn't hit something hard as she would have expected. When she settled from the shock, she realized that she was lying on top of a person. In fact, this specific person was Daniel.

"Daniel…what are…"

"Did you really think that I was just going to drive away and leave you out here in the dark, while you tried to climb to the second floor of your house?" Daniel struggled to get his words out.

"Oh…God…Daniel. Are you okay?" Betty said frantically. "Did I hurt you?"

"Yeah…No…I would be better, if you would let me breathe. Need air…." said Daniel. Betty quickly moved off of him.

Betty could see that Daniel was still in pain. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yeah….I'll be fine. I think you might have crushed a couple of other important things that you might want to use later."

"I'm so sorry…I'm sorry. Daniel…" She began apologizing profusely, as she helped him up from the ground and started to brush him off.

He came to rest on the side of the house, trying to regain himself. He let out a deep breath. "No problem….I got you to fall for me….and on me in 24 hours."

"You forgot that I also fell on you other day too." Betty managed a smile as she saw that Daniel was trying to make her feel better. She moved closer once prompted. He pulled her into his arms.

"My beautiful little klutz." He closed his arms around her.

Betty pulled away and looked at his face in the dim morning light. "I saw the car drive away. You came back." She took a quick glimpse down the alley.

"I had the driver stop a few doors down. I figured that you might need some help," said Daniel.

"Aww…you are so sweet." Betty brushed some debris from the front of his black coat. Then, she glanced upwards. "You are probably right though. I think I do need a boast."

"Oh…no. I'm not letting you climb up there again….not after you fell. I don't want to visit my new girlfriend in the hospital."

"Daniel, I can do it." Betty assured him. "You need to go…"

His fingers touched her lips. "I'm going with you." Daniel said firmly.

"No, you aren't. I have to do this one on my own. A little boost is all I need. Then, you can get in your car and go talk to your father."

"Fine…but I'm waiting until you are safe inside your window before I leave."

"Okay." She reached up and kissed him one more time before she began her journey up the side of her house with Daniel's help.

The simple kiss once again turned out to be more. The next thing, she knew was that Daniel had her up against the house and was kissing her deeply. She wanted to stop but she was powerless to stop him.

"Oh…" Betty knocked over an empty garbage can that sent the neighbor's cat hissing and screeching down towards the street to get away. Without missing a beat, she had momentarily forgotten why they were even out ther.

"Betty….Daniel." Betty heard her father's voice. She and Daniel broke apart slowly and turned to see her father standing there in his robe with a baseball bat with an expression of shock on his face.

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	16. Chapter 16

**Falling (aka Betty's Dating Coach)**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._

**Chapter 14**

As Daniel pulled up outside his father's house, he glanced down at his phone, hoping to hear from Betty. It had been almost three hours since he left her in Queens in the wee hours of the morning.

Since then, he had been home, changed clothes, got a shower, had breakfast and slowly made his way over to see his father personally. Right now, Daniel wanted nothing more to do than to be with Betty as she faced her father.

He argued with her. However, she practically shoved him into the back seat of his town car and told him to go deal with his father, promising to call him later. Still, he heard nothing from her and that made Daniel worry that things were not going well there.

All he knew was that he had never seen Ignacio Suarez that upset in the time that Daniel had known him. Not that Daniel could blame him for being angry. He had caught his youngest daughter making out with her boss after a failed attempt to sneak back into the house at five-thirty in the morning.

If Daniel had a daughter and he found her with some guy like himself….well, forget that, it wouldn't happen. If he had a daughter, she would be locked up and not allowed to date until she was 30 years old.

Anyway, back to reality, Daniel took a deep breath as he prepared to face his father. Right now, he would rather have stayed in Queens and faced a baseball bat bearing Mr. Suarez than go see his own father.

Daniel braced himself from the lecture that he knew would be soon coming his way. If the tone of his father's voice on the voicemail that he left were any indication, Daniel knew that this was not going to go well at all.

As he made his way out of the town car, Daniel slowly started up the stairs that led to the front door. He wondered if it wondered if it was too late to run back to Queens, pick up Betty and they could take the next flight to whatever tropical destination happened to be leaving at the moment.

With the way this day was going, he didn't even think they should worry about packing anything. Just shop when they got there.

Of course, Betty wouldn't do that…and she wouldn't let him do that either. He needed to face this so that he could move forward. Whatever happened, he would handle it. Even if it meant that the only job he could get was selling advertising for Cat Fancy.

He would rather do that and be happy with Betty. To be completely honest, his job at MODE made him miserable and it would be even worse, if he didn't have Betty by his side. She was the only thing that really made working there bearable.

As soon as he walked through the door, Alexis was rushing into the foyer.

"Where have you been?" Alexis snapped.

"I…uh…" Daniel tried to figure out where to start, not wanting to give out more information than they might already have.

"Well…come on. You are here now." Alexis grabbed his arm.

"What…what's going on?" Daniel pulled his arm away.

Alexis stopped abruptly. "Don't you check your messages?"

"I just listened to the one from dad but it was kind of vague," said Daniel. "All it said was for me to call or come by. I'm sorry….I didn't listen to the dozen other messages. I was kind of preoccupied."

"While you were preoccupied with….whoever she is, things have been falling apart."

"I got Winthrop Jewelry to move over from Glamour," said Daniel.

"Advertising is only part of our problem right now." Alexis sighed. "We have a huge mess to clean up at MODE."

"Oh…MODE…wait…so, you don't know."

"Know what?"

"Nothing." Daniel shook his head. "What happened?"

"What didn't happen?" Alexis said. "I'm getting ready to head over to MODE right now. We already have a team working on it."

"Working on what?" Daniel stopped again.

"Dad caught Wilhelmina cheating on him with her bodyguard," said Alexis bluntly. "The wedding is off."

"Her bodyguard? Seriously…" Daniel didn't know why he wasn't totally surprised at the new revelation.

"I need you to get Betty and have her help get all the wedding stuff taken care of and cancelled. We are expecting 500 people at St. Patrick's for the wedding next weekend. And we need to find out how to spin this."

"How's Dad?" Daniel asked curiously and tried to keep himself from celebrating the fact that Wilhelmina was not going to be his new step monster. Break out the champagne.

"He's devastated. I've never seen him like this before," said Alexis.

"What does that have to do with MODE though?" Daniel was lost. It was clear that Alexis was in the dark about his and Betty's Broadway debut. He was pretty sure that his father must be too.

"She wiped out this month's issue…and took half the staff with her," said Alexis. "She is starting her own magazine…apparently."

"What?"

"We have 24 hours to get the issue to print," Alexis said reluctantly. "I need to get down there."

"Where is Dad?"

"He's in his study. Can you call Betty and have her meet us?"

"Sure…" Daniel nodded. "I can do that. I'll see Dad and then I'll be right behind you."

Alexis started to leave but Daniel stopped her. "Alexis, there is something else that you need to know. I know we really don't have time for it but you are probably going to find out and I think you should hear it from me."

"Okay…" Alexis said hesitantly.

Daniel took a deep breath. "I take it that you haven't had seen the newspaper or television since last night."

"We've been kind of busy, Daniel."

"Well…Betty and I kind of made that news last night." Daniel started cautiously.

"Oh…" Alexis was intrigued.

"Yeah…We were working on this feature together. I was trying to show Betty the ropes…dating wise. And well….it took a huge turn last night."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that…Betty and I are in love with each other." Daniel said boldly.

"Braces and frizzy hair Betty?" Alexis tried to keep a straight face.

"Oh…well, we kind of did a little makeover but that's not why I fell in love with her." Daniel admitted. "She is the reason why I didn't answer my phone. Betty and I were together."

Alexis slapped Daniel on the arm roughly. "Are you out of your mind, Daniel?"

"Hey…that hurt."

"Well, I should have hit you harder. How could you do something like this? Betty is the one good thing that you had going for you and you go and screw it up."

"I didn't screw it up." Daniel snapped back.

"Not yet. I'm sure you will."

"I'm not going to screw this up. You are right. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm going to do my best to be what she deserves."

"How long is this going to last? You have never had a relationship that lasted more than six months."

"This is going to be different, Alexis. Why can't you believe in me?"

"Because you are just like our father….look at him, he was married to our mother for thirty-five years and he was only faithful to her a quarter of that."

"I would never do that to Betty. I love her." Daniel took a deep breath. "More than I've ever loved anyone."

"Dad hired her so that she would keep mind on your job, Daniel. Apparently, there isn't any woman that can keep you from thinking with your penis." Alexis said heatedly. "I actually thought that Betty was different. She's just like the rest."

"You aren't being fair." Daniel shot back. "Betty isn't like the rest."

"Whatever." Alexis flipped her blonde hair back from her face. "We don't have time to talk about your little romance right now."

Daniel felt defeated. It was clear that Alexis was not convinced of his dedication to his new love and that wasn't anything that he could say to change her mind. He had a feeling that his father would probably be equally as difficult to convince. After all, Alex was also very much like their father too.

"I'll see you at MODE and try not to take too long. We have a lot of work to do," Alexis rolled her eyes and walked out the front door.

Daniel stood there for a moment. After all, he needed to stay strong and continue to believe that he and Betty could overcome any challenges they would face. Daniel wasn't going to give up on him and Betty.

His and Betty's story would be different than that of his father and mother. Alexis was so wrong about Daniel's ability to remain faithful. It was then that Daniel realized that his own family didn't really know him at all.

They just saw him as the Meade that blew through his trust fund and bedded a countless line of women. The only person that really seemed to really know him was Betty.

She saw his heart and loved him unconditionally. And there was no way that he could walk away from that. He wouldn't apologize for it either.

As he entered the study, he saw his father sitting in front of the fire quietly. He saw his father pick up the newspaper.

"Hey…Dad!"

"Daniel, it's about time. Where have you been?"

Daniel took a deep breath and gathered his courage. This was no time to dance around the subject. "I was spending a quiet evening….well, mostly quiet evening with my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? I…" Bradford said plainly.

"Betty…." Daniel's heart pounded, as he cut off his father. "Betty and I are together…and we are in love."

**PLEASE REVIEW**.


	17. Chapter 17

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty. This writing is for entertainment purposes only….and I don't make a dime off of it._

**Chapter 15**

As the elevator rose to the twenty-eighth floor, Betty checked her eyes in the reflective panel to make sure there were no mascara streaks down her face. She couldn't believe that things had gone so badly with her father.

After Daniel had left her to head back into the city, she was sure that everything would be okay. She had even convinced Daniel of that. Things did not turn out the way that she wanted at all.

Now with two suitcases in hand and a duffle bag over her shoulder, she was headed to MODE to help Daniel with the crisis that had unfolded. Right now, she didn't have time to think about where she would sleep that night. She just knew that Daniel needed her and that is where she needed to be. She would just deal with the rest later.

"Betty…" Christina spotted her, as she stepped off the elevator. "Are you planning on moving in here or something?" She glanced down at her suitcase.

"Uh…no." Betty nodded, as she made a beeline toward the supply closet to tuck her luggage away before anyone else could see it, especially Daniel. It was bad enough that the security guard had given her an odd look when she hauled all her luggage through the lobby of the building.

She didn't want him to know how badly things had gone, at least, not yet. He already had bigger problems like cleaning up Wilhelmina's mess. He didn't need to hear about her argument with her father.

Christina followed her. "Why do I have a feeling this has something to do with you and Daniel tangling tongue on Broadway?"

"It does." Betty sighed, as she closed the door. "I moved out of my dad's house."

"What?"

"My dad caught Daniel and I making out this morning. Let's just say that he wasn't happy about it."

"I thought your father liked Daniel," said Christina.

"He does…but he likes my boss, Daniel. Not the Playboy Bachelor Daniel that has a reputation for bedding every woman in Manhattan. Then, you add all the changes and the staying over at Daniel's apartment…and the media attention. My dad was adamant that he doesn't want me to get involved with Daniel."

"And what do you want?" Christina asked sincerely.

"I want Daniel. I want my family. I just want everyone to be happy. What am I going to do?" Betty feared that she was going to start crying again.

"Oh…Betty. Just give your family sometime. I'm sure that they will come around. They love you. If Daniel makes you happy, everything will fall into place."

"I hope so. Can I stay with you until this blows over?" Betty asked.

"Sure….but why don't you stay with Daniel?"

"I don't want him to know." Betty said quietly. "And don't you dare tell him either."

"Betty…" Christina gave a disappointed expression. "You need…"

"Betty…" A voice rang out.

Betty turned to see Daniel headed her way. His eyes lit up as he rushed toward her. Despite the disaster that he was currently immersed in, he was clearly happy to see her.

"I'm so glad you're here." Daniel quickly kissed her cheek.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds to TALK." Christina's eyes grew wide. "I'll see you in the conference room in a few minutes."

"Okay…Thanks, Christina." Daniel grinned and then turned his attention back to her. Christina started down the hall, turning back watching them.

Daniel grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the supply closet. "Daniel, what...we don't have time."

"Just give me a second. I want to kiss my… girlfriend." Daniel raised an eye brow. The butterflies in her belly fluttered, just hearing him call her that.

Betty pulled him away from the closet but was unsuccessful in her attempt. "Daniel…stop."

As soon as he opened the door, he saw her large suitcase just inside the doorway.

"What the…" Daniel flipped on the light and looked down at the suitcase. Betty bit her lip. "Are these yours?"

Betty nodded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Daniel, we really don't have time for this." Betty sighed.

"We have enough time, Betty. What's going on?"

"I moved out. I'm going to stay with Christina…until things blow over with my father," said Betty.

"No way." Daniel swiftly protested, as he lifted his hand to her cheek. "You are staying with me."

"Do you really think that's a good idea? My father is upset enough now."

"Betty, we are both adults." He slid his hands down her arms, giving her chills. "Consenting adults….and your father obviously still sees you as a little girl."

"I know but I just don't want to make it worse," said Betty.

"I'll go talk to your father, Betty. Man to man…and tell him how much you mean to me…and how much I love you and want to make you happy."

He added. "I never would have thought that the conversation about us…would go over better with my father than yours."

"Really? Your father was okay with…this."

"Yeah…he was actually pretty great about it. He actually said he was proud of me." Daniel grinned happily. "He said that it was about time that I picked a girl that was worth something."

"What about the reasons that he hired me?"

"We really didn't get into it. I was just so happy that he wasn't upset that we really didn't get into it. I figured that I would just take his positive words and run with them." His hand rested on her waist.

"I'd love to hear anything positive out of my father right now. I mean…he likes you. He just doesn't like the idea of you and me…and me getting hurt. You don't have the best reputation with the ladies."

"I guess I really can't blame him there. If we had a daughter, I would probably be the same way.

Betty rolled her eyes. "Slow down."

"I'm just saying that I can kind of understand where he's coming from."

He continued. "Betty, I know that my reputation isn't exactly good…and I'm probably insane for thinking that I even deserve to be with someone as amazing as you but I love you. Down deep, I think that I always have…and I'll do whatever it takes to make this work. Because I promise you that I've never felt what I feel for you for anyone else."

"What about Sofia?"

"Not even Sofia." Daniel leaned in, closing the distance between them. "And as far as your dad, I'll go talk to him…which is what I should have done this morning. I don't really think I helped my case by letting you talk me into leaving."

"It probably wouldn't have changed anything." Betty knew that Daniel was correct. There was nothing they could do to change the past….or his past, for that matter.

"I know how important your family is to you and I'm not going to just let them think that I'm going to hurt you," said Daniel.

"Oh…my whole family isn't upset. Justin is ready to plan our wedding." Betty flashed back to the image of Justin rushing down the stairs with a pile of his bridal magazines that he had stashed away. She had to admit that she actually like that his excitement about her new relationship with Daniel had taken Justin's mind off the sadness of losing his father, even if it was only temporary.

"I knew that I liked that kid." Daniel smiled brightly.

"Well, he likes you regardless of what anyone else thinks," said Betty. "Hilda has mixed feelings about it but she told me to follow my heart…." Betty looked down at her luggage. "So, that's what I did."

"You weren't going to tell me…were you?"

"No…I'm sorry. I was going to sooner or later…after it blew over." Betty confessed.

"Betty, we have to face things together."

"I know. You are right. I should have tried to keep it from you." Betty gazed up at him apologetically. "Do you forgive me?"

"Of course, I do. You have forgiven me for bigger things." Daniel grinned.

"That's true." She rested her hand on his chest. She reached up to kiss him. "We better get into that meeting. We don't have much time and we have a lot to do."

"I don't even know how we are going to do it. We lost the whole cover and Alexis can't reach the photographer to retrieve the images or get him to re-shoot….and even if we can, there is no guarantee that we'll be able to get Cameron Ashlock to agree to do it."

"Doubt it. I think she's in rehab."

"What…that's just great." Daniel groaned.

Betty could see that Daniel was stressed out. It was time to switch gears and go from girlfriend mode to assistant mode. That was what Daniel needed right now. Everything else could want until later.

"We can do this." Betty reached for his hand and began to lead him out of the closet. "Come on."


	18. Chapter 18

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty. Besides the borrowed characters and some canon events, this writing is completely my own._

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

Daniel looked over at the board in the corner of his office and saw the number of pages that needed to be filled before they could ship starting to drop significantly. With the help of thrown together staff, it was starting to look like they might pull this off.

Like they had a choice, things were bad. Harold, who had come in to assist, had pointed out that if they didn't get this issue out in time. It could be disastrous. The magazine would likely be out of business by the time the next issue went to print.

While they were close to filling all the pages, they weren't out of the woods yet. They still had one more hurdle to overcome.

_A big one._

Without a solution, it didn't matter whether or not the rest of the pages were filled or not. They still had no cover and with Alexis at the printer trying to get an extension. It was up to him to come up with a new cover since their attempt to get Cameron Ashlock to re-shoot had failed and the photographer was on a sixteen hour flight to Australia, making it impossible to get the negatives.

"Anything yet?"

Daniel gazed up to see Betty entered his office the coffee he was hoped would keep him awake.

"No." Daniel glanced down briefly at the photo of him and Betty on Page Six. The caption that read- Daniel Meade stunned the audience on Broadway with his latest flavor of the month. Seeing in it black and white made Daniel ill. The last thing he wanted anyone to think was that Betty was just another notch on his belt. He had to wonder if Betty had had a chance to see it yet. He guess was that she hadn't.

"How is everything going out there?" Daniel nodded towards the conference room where the staff was buzzing.

"Almost there. Harold and Henry are finishing up the food section. Then…we are just waiting on you." Betty moved around his desk and placed the coffee down. "Are you sure there isn't anything else that I can do for you.

He tucked her down into his lap and kissed her neck. "Inspire me…"

"Daniel…" He felt her try to escape but he held on tight. "Let me go…we're in the office."

"Betty, everyone knows…relax. Besides, I don't want Henry to get any ideas that he has any chance with you." Daniel took a quick glance out the window at Betty's ex. "What's he doing here anyway?"

"He agreed to come back and help Harold get settled into the job. He goes back to Tucson in two weeks," said Betty. "He's just here to help out."

"You mean…help you out. He sure wouldn't do it for me." Daniel looked back to her.

Daniel gave her a soft kiss. After all, he knew they needed to keep it cool. They were in the office. A simple kiss was tame compared to the things that had gone on in that office in the past.

_The past._

That seemed to be the theme of the day. Betty's father didn't want her involved with him because of his reputation. The press was calling Betty, his new flavor of the month. And now…Betty's past was just a few steps outside of his office with a look of jealousy in his eyes. Henry looked at Daniel like he had stolen his toy.

As they broke apart, Daniel looked in her eyes. "Well…I guess that's okay…as long as he doesn't think he's taking you back with him."

"I don't know. I might not have a choice if you don't figure out what our cover is going to be. No magazine….means no job." Betty said solemnly. "You heard Harold."

"You are not going to Tucson." Daniel protested.

"Like you could stop me." Betty quickly turned playfully.

He glanced out into the office and then back at Betty. He knew that she was teasing him and trying to get him to relax, so that he could get his creative juices flowing. At that moment, Daniel could only think of a life without Betty.

"Oh…I think that I could." A thought suddenly occurred to me, just how he could do that if he had to.

"You think so. And how would you do that?" She raked her left hand down his chest. He grabbed it.

"Well…I would just have to put a ring on a very important finger and get you to spend the rest of your life with me." He kissed her hand.

"You are crazy." Betty rolled her eyes and reached for his coffee cup, moving it closer to him. "Obviously…you need caffeine." She got up from his lap. "

"Time to stop day dreaming, Daniel. Alexis called and said that we have two more hours and that's it. You need to get to work."

"Betty…" He grabbed her hand before she could move out of reach. "I got it."

"Got what?"

"The cover." Daniel got up from his chair with her hand still in his. He pulled her towards the door. "We need to get some things from The Closet and get Nicole to help with your hair and make-up."

"Daniel, what are…." Betty stopped him. "What are you thinking? You can't be considering putting me on the cover."

"Not just you…Us."

"Us?" He stopped abruptly.

"Betty, I know how we can solve a lot of problems….with one solution." Daniel said sincerely. "I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier."

"Daniel, you aren't making any sense."

Daniel fell to one knee and looked up at Betty, as he held her hand. "Marry me, Betty."

"What….Daniel, get up off your kneea." Betty took a quick glance up through the glass of his office. "You have everyone's attention. And you look like an idiot."

"I don't care." Daniel continued to hold onto her hands.

Betty's eyes widened as she tried to get him to rise back to his feet. "Daniel, get up."

"Not until you agree to marry me." He shook his head. "Think about it, Betty. It's the perfect solution to everything."

"Daniel…"

"Betty…" He interrupted her. He knew that she probably thought he was insane. "Just hear me out."

He took a deep breath and continued. "Betty, this could save the magazine."

"That's not a reason to get married."

"It could save jobs." Daniel added.

"Still not a reason to get married," said Betty.

"Isn't it?" Daniel pleaded. "Betty, you heard Harold. If we don't get this issue out, it could mean the end of MODE and other magazines also. A lot of people will lose their jobs."

"Can you live with that?" Daniel knew that it was wrong to make her feel guilty. Right now, Daniel was deseprate.

"There has to be another solution, Daniel. There is no way that your father is going to let MODE go out of business," said Betty.

"Okay..Okay…so maybe that's true but I don't want to have to go ask my dad for money. That seems the spoiled rich boy way of solving things. Running to daddy to save me."

"You didn't cause all this, Daniel. It was Wilhelmina who did this," said Betty. "Your father should help fix it."

"I want to fix it myself. All I've done my whole life is make one mess after another, my parents have always been the ones that would try to clean it up. For once in my life, I want to be the one to fix things…not screw them up."

"But Daniel…"

"Betty, I love you. I told you that." Daniel's knees were starting to kill him but he was determined to stay there until he got her to agree to his proposal. "I meant it. I know you love me too."

"I do…" Betty nodded.

Daniel grinned. "Good."

"Daniel, I'm not going to marry you. "

"Betty, we were going to do that dating feature anyway. And obviously that didn't turn out the way we planned. Why not take that one more step further?

"But married?"

"Betty, think about it. We have St. Patrick's reserved for next Saturday. We have the flowers, the cake…everything. I'm sure that we could make some last minute changes to suit your tastes instead of Wilhelmina's."

"Are you sure want that?" Betty chuckled.

"Well…" Daniel grinned. "It's your wedding. You can have what you want. I wouldn't care if you wanted a three ring circus, as long as you will agree to marry me."

"Even if I did agree to this three ring circus, what about my family? My father isn't exactly happy with this….with us."

"Betty, I'll talk to him. If anything, I think it would show him that I'm serious about us," said Daniel. "I'm committed to this relationship. I'm done being a womanizer. I just want one woman…and that's you. You are it for me."

"Daniel, we've been dating for like…five minutes. Last week I was internet dating, getting dumped by losers at the bowling alley and wearing braces."

"I get that. I know that it's fast…but we have less than two hours to pull this together. So...no pressure but I kind of need and answer right now."

"This is crazy. I can't just agree to marry you." Betty was still not convinced.

"Betty, you took a chance on me. Take one more…and I promise that you will never regret it for as long as we both shall live."

"There has to be another way, Daniel." Betty said tearfully.

Daniel felt defeated. He could see that there was no way that she was going to stay yes. He got up off his knees, dropped her hands and made his way back over to his desk. "You're right. It was a stupid idea."

"Daniel…"

"Not right now, Betty. I….uh…" Daniel rubbed the back of his neck, as he felt the weight of MODE on his shoulders. "Can you just close the door when you leave?"

"Daniel…." She said tearfully. "I love you."

"I know…" Daniel should have known better. Betty was so much smarter than him. Why would she want to marry him?

"Daniel…" She started again.

He sat down in his chair. Betty still stood across the room. "I'm sorry that I pressured you. It was a stupid idea."

"It was a very sweet idea, Daniel. We can…"

He cut her off, as he stared at the computer screen. "Betty, I have a job to do right now. I need to be alone to figure this out."

The next thing, Daniel heard was the sound of his office door closing.


	19. Chapter 19

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._

**Chapter Seventeen**

Betty stood outside Daniel's office with her back against the door. Her instincts told her to run away….and run away fast. However, her heart wouldn't allow her feet to move further away as her brain collected her thoughts about what just happened inside that office.

Daniel Meade, the most eligible bachelor in the city, her new boyfriend and one of her best friends had asked her to marry him. Was she out of her mind for not jumping at the chance to become Daniel's wife? After all, there wasn't a woman in this city…or even the East Coast that kill to be in her brand new designer shoes (which by the way, Daniel picked out.)

"Crap." Her head fell back against the door and she banged her head. Then, she slowly turned around and peered through the small round windows of the door. Inside, she saw Daniel deep in concentration and trying to bury his feeling of disappointments.

As she looked at Daniel, she knew that there was only one thing that she could do at this point. They were out of option and his idea wasn't a horrible one. Though the revelation of their feelings was still fresh, the feelings weren't. They had always been there.

Betty felt a hand on her shoulder. She slowly turned around to see Christina there. Before Christina could get a work in, Betty cut it. There was no time to waste. "Christina, I need you to get Daniel's black suit…you know the Dolce & Gabbana one that he was supposed to wear for that charity event next week."

"I know the one." Christina said quickly.

"Great….and I need you to get the photographer. I'll also need hair, make up and bring my garment bag down to the photo studio. Daniel and I will be there in fifteen minutes." Betty ordered.

Christina nodded, clearly baffled by what had occurred in Daniel's office. "What the heck happened in there, Betty?"

"I don't have time to get into it….just go. You'll know soon enough." Betty's heart pounded as she grabbed the door handle. "And get Amanda to call Alexis…and tell her that we should be done by the deadline…but see if she can hold off the printer…just a bit longer. We are going to need all the time we can get."

Christina nodded and then watched her hurry off to gather the troops. Betty took a deep breath and opened the door to Daniel's office and her future. Once inside, she closed the door behind her.

Daniel looked up when he heard the door close but immediately went back to his computer screen. "Betty, I really don't have time to talk about this right now."

"You're right. We don't have time to talk about it. We have a photo shoot in ten minutes." She moved across the room and made her way around his desk.

"Betty, we don't…" His eyes still fixed on the blank Word document that he had on his computer screen.

Betty rested against the edge of Daniel's desk and reached across him to close the laptop. "Daniel, we need to get downstairs for our engagement photo….or our cover photo. Then we have to hurry up and write something to go with it. I was thinking that next month we could write something on how we fell in love and about our newlywed life."

She added. "Stuff like that would fly off the newsstand since people seems so interested in your life. It sure beats letting the paparazzi tell our story."

Betty turned his chair and brought her face to his. "Don't you think?"

"You don't have to marry me to save the magazine. We'll figure something out." Daniel said painfully.

"Okay…." Betty sat on his lap, petting the back of his head. "I'm waiting right here until you come up with something."

"You keep sitting on my lap…and an idea is not what I'm going to come up with," said Daniel playfully.

Betty giggled, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "You know we don't have time for that."

"Betty, I love you." Daniel lifted his eyes to hers. "You don't have to marry me to save the magazine. I'll just ask my dad for the money. You were right. Wilhelmina did this. He should help us out of this."

"Daniel, I'm not marrying you because I want to save the magazine….okay...maybe, I am a little. More than anything, I'm marrying you because I love you too and I want to help. This is your family's magazine and that's important. If marrying you means that we can save it, then I think we should do it."

"Do you mean it?" Daniel asked sincerely.

"Yes. I'm sorry that I didn't say yes either but…"

"It's fast." Daniel rose from the chair. "I know but Betty, I mean it when I promise you that you will never regret."

"I believe you." She did.

"So…we are really going to do this." Daniel smiled. "The whole 'til death do us part thing."

"Yes." Betty nodded.

"I should probably talk to your father then."

"Later…." She hopped off his lap. "Right now, we need to get downstairs. So…we can get this issue put to bed."

Daniel raised his eyebrow suggestively, as he reached for her. He pulled her close. "And then I'll take you home and put you to bed. After all, I think we need to celebrate."

He quickly captured her lips, kissing her passionately. He pulled her tighter against him. Betty's mind struggled to remain focused on anything other than his lips on hers.

"Mmmm…" She pulled away, knowing that they had somewhere they needed to be.

He moved in once again, kissing her again. She pushed him back slightly. "Daniel…." Daniel grinned mischievously. Even in their short romantic relationship, Betty knew that look well. "We can celebrate later."

"See….this is why I need you in my life." Daniel gave her soft kiss. "You keep me going in the right direction."

"And the direction we need to go right now is out the door and downstairs." Betty grabbed his hand and led him out of the office.

After a quick make-out session between the twenty-eighth and tenth floor, Betty and Daniel arrived in the studio. Christina had gathered all the necessary items that Betty had requested.

While Betty was getting her hair and makeup done, Daniel talked with the photographer about what he wanted and called Alexis to tell her that they needed another hour to complete everything.

Just as Nicole finished up her make-up, Betty took one last look in the mirror. Then, she turned to see Henry standing there.

"Hey…I was hoping that we would have a minute to talk." Henry said timidly.

"Daniel is waiting on me." Betty starts to leave.

"What's going on with the two of you? Why this make-over?" Henry grabbed her hand as she passed by. "I see the way that he looks at you. There is something going on."

"Henry, it's really none of your business." Betty said bluntly. "You have Charlie now….and I have Daniel."

"You have Daniel. What's that supposed to mean?" Henry asked.

"It means….that Betty is my fiancée and we are going to be married next Saturday. If I were you, I'd let go of her." Daniel stood in the doorway.

"Married? That's kind of fast." Henry remarked.

"Actually, I don' think its fast enough," Daniel moved past Henry.

"Betty, the photographer is ready for us."

"Good." Betty smiled up at Daniel, as he reached for her hand. Henry stood there awestruck.

"You look so beautiful. I loved that red dress on you," said Daniel. "But….it's missing one thing."

"And that is?" Betty glanced down to see that her signature B necklace was in place. She had planned on keeping things simple.

Daniel pulled a ring box out of his pocket and revealed a rather large canary yellow diamond ring. "This."

"Daniel, it's beautiful." Betty was sure that her smile was almost as brilliant as that ring that Daniel held in his hand. She glanced up at him, forgetting Henry's presence when Daniel removed the ring and slid it on her finger.

"We probably need to get it sized. We can get that done when we pick out our wedding rings."

Betty just nodded as she was rendered speechless. She fought the tears that were threatening to ruin her make-up as she continued to stare down at the beautiful diamond on her finger.

"Come on sweetie. We have a cover to shot and get this magazine," Daniel began to escort her from the room. His hand rested on her back. "And then we can grab some champagne on the way home and then go home and celebrate."

"Betty, this is crazy." Henry stopped them "You can't be in love with him. You are just upset about me leaving for Tucson…but Betty, the real reason that I came back was to ask you to come back with me and marry me." Henry pulls a much smaller diamond ring out of his pocket.


	20. Chapter 20

**Betty's Dating Coach**

Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty.

**Chapter Eighteen**

With the next issue finished and their crisis averted, Daniel sat back in his office chair looking out the window at the lights of the city with a lot on his mind. On one hand, he had a huge sense of accomplishment and on the other hand, he wondered if their course of action had been the right one for himself and for Betty.

Yes. Daniel was having some doubts as he stared at the new cover of MODE in his hands. Instead of a rail-thin model in designer clothing, the new cover carried the loving image of him and Betty, along with the title, How We Fell in Love.

Betty looked stunning in that red dress as she rested against him. His arms around her waist with her ring on display for the whole world to see.

How Daniel wished that he would have spent more time picking out her ring. Instead, he only had a few rings to choose from. He was fortunate that Winthrop Jewelry had sent over a few things early that day for use in the next month's issue.

Now that Daniel thought about it; Picking out Betty's ring from a tray of samples at the last minute because he needed a cover and wanted to save the magazine. It was unromantic.

Not really a story that he wanted to tell their children and grandchildren.

Betty deserved so much more than that and Daniel felt that he had selfishly robbed her of the fairy tale that he knew she dreamed of. No wonder he felt so guilty.

Inside that new issue, they had both written this beautiful article about how a kind and sweet young woman from Queens had won the heart of New York's most eligible bachelor. From their unexpected bowling date to their adventures on Broadway, their story was there on the pages of MODE in black and white. The story of how they discovered that the love they were both seeking and how it was right there in front of both of them all along.

It was all true. They had found the love. And in a matter of hours, there would no more speculation about their relationship. There would be no more whispers in the rumor mill that Betty was his latest flavor of the month. If the new revelations weren't convincing enough, Daniel was sure that their wedding at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday surely would bring all those rumors to a screeching halt.

That was, if he could bring himself to take it that far and marry her.

Not that he didn't want to marry Betty; he loved her more than he had ever loved any woman in his life and there would be no great joy than spending the rest of his life with her. It was just that Daniel had thought about his promise that he would never let her regret her decision to marry him.

What if she did? How soon would it be before she would see that there were drawbacks to being attached to the Meade name? Could he allow that to be thrust upon her? Their debut on Page Six was just the beginning of it all.

Sure…the concentration on his love life would die down now that he was putting his philandering behind him. Daniel wasn't a fool though. He knew that obsession would soon be replaced with the intrusion into his and Betty's marriage.

The headlines would soon be focused on that. They would be in the spotlight with speculations about whether their marriage was in trouble to Daniel's ability to be faithful to whether or not Betty was pregnant with the next heir to the Meade legacy.

Daniel felt suddenly panicked about subjecting Betty to this life. It was one thing when she managed his life. Now, she was going to be part of that. It was another matter.

This morning when they woke up, their only thoughts had been how to get Betty back in her father's house without being detected and how to tell their families that the rumors on Page Six were true.

Marriage had been the furthest thing from either of their minds. Now, they were being thrown into this whirlwind marriage that most would consider insane, given Daniel's extensive past and Betty's careful nature.

And maybe, it was. Perhaps, it was crazy to just jump without looking. He knew that Betty had probably accepted his proposal out of guilt, not wanting to disappoint him or make him thing that she didn't love him.

Looking back, he realized that Betty hadn't been wrong when she denied him. It was too soon in their new relationship to be thinking about taking such a big step. If anything, they should enjoy dating for a while before they took the plunge into matrimony.

Marriage was a step that he had only thought about once in his entire life. Of course, that situation had been different….or was it? Sure, Sofia had tricked him into proposing. In the light of a day, would Betty think that he did the same thing? Would she think that he only proposed to save the magazine or to win his father's approval?

Daniel knew that he had really screwed this up. He didn't want that to be their story.

And to add to everything, there was this whole Henry situation?

That guy had a lot of guts to show up here now with a ring and asking her to marry him and go back to Arizona with him. He even said that he had a job lined up for her.

Her initial reaction had left Daniel a bit unsettled to say the least. While she had said no to Henry's marriage proposal, Daniel couldn't help but sense some hesitancy in her voice.

He had to wonder whether she already had some regrets about accepting his proposal. Did she want to go with Henry? As much as Daniel didn't like it, Henry was Betty's first love and he knew that she loved him at one time. Did she still? Was she having regrets now?

Despite the magazine cover and the announcement of the engagement, should Daniel just let her go and allow her to make her choice? That thought sent a stabbing pain right through Daniel's heart and brought tears to his eyes.

Betty had taught him how to love and he loved her with his whole heart. He loved her so much that he would let her go, if he had to. He just wanted her to be happy…even if that meant, she had to go to Arizona and out of his life.

That left only one thing that Daniel could do now. Betty had made a sacrifice for him and now he would do the same for her. A plan of his own had been hatched. He just had to hope that Betty understands when the truth was revealed.

Daniel got up from his desk, turned off the desk lamp. He moved over toward the chaise longue where his beauty rested in the dim light. The staff had long cleared out and gone home, exhausted from their eventful evening.

Daniel came to rest on the edge of the chaise. He gazed down at Betty, sleeping so peacefully that he hated to wake her from her, so that he could take her home.

He reached forward and stroked her long dark hair, leaning forward and kissed her on the forehead. She started to stir a bit and then slowly opened her eyes.

"Did I fall asleep?" Betty said dozily.

"Yeah." Daniel smiled. As he looked at her, he felt a huge weight on his shoulders. He knew that weight was the burden of Betty's future happiness that rested there.

"Is the magazine done?" She asked.

"And printed. Are you ready to go home?" Daniel asked her.

"What time is it?"

"3:00 am."

"Let's just stay here. We can go home in the morning." Betty moved over to make room for him.

He removed his shoes, placing them on the floor beside hers. He lay down beside her, face to face. He stared into her beautiful eyes and knew that those eyes were ones that he wished that he could get lost in for the rest of his life.

Daniel did his best to keep the tears at bay. Though, he could feel them threatening to move in.

Despite his attempts to cover his emotions, he could see that Betty could tell that something was wrong.

"Are you okay?"

"Just thinking about how much I love you." He replied.

Betty smiled brightly. "Good…because I love you."

"Are you sure that this is what you want?" After he said it, he kicked himself.

"Of course, I'm sure. We're getting married."

"Okay." Daniel said, not fully satisfied by her answer even though it had been convincing enough.

"We have so much to do. I thought that we could go to Queens in the morning." Betty was suddenly very awake, as he could see her mind start to churn out another one of her mental to-do lists. "You should probably talk to my dad before the news gets out about the magazine and I know that Justin and Hilda are going to want to help with the wedding. We have so much to do. We need to get a marriage license. We need to talk to the priest. Then we…I need to get ahold of my family in Mexico and see if they can make the trip. Do you think we can bring them here?"

"Whatever you want, we'll take care of it." Daniel kissed the tip of her nose.

She sighed. "You're right. We can deal with all that in the morning."

Betty leaned forward and kissed him softly….and then again….and again. Then, the simple soft kisses turned into very convincing passionate ones, as Daniel allowed himself to get lost in this moment and lost in her.

.


	21. Chapter 21

**Betty's Dating Coach**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen**

Betty never imagined that her life could change so fast. Not long ago, she was just Daniel's assistant. Now, she was going to be his wife in a matter of days, if all the pieces fell into place. And right now, nothing was going as planned.

Since the day the magazine was released, the paparazzi had been camped out, outside her and Daniel's apartment building, waiting to snap another photo of them. This was mildly annoying since they followed them everywhere, even the grocery store.

Of course, there wasn't any part of this that surprised Betty. She knew what she was getting into when she agreed to marry Daniel. She knew that every single day leading up to the wedding….and even the days that followed would be a frenzy of media activity. She had been around the Meade family long enough to know what that entailed.

Daniel walked out of the bed room, dressed for a night out with the guys. He moved over to where she was seated at the table. She had been pouring over the seating arrangement all afternoon.

"Well, I'm on my way out." Daniel moved in behind her.

"I thought Becks was coming by to pick you up," said Betty.

"Na….he just called. He wants me to meet him at…uh…that bar in Union Square that we like to go to," said Daniel.

Betty smirked, as she focused on the seating arrangement for the reception. "Oh….okay."

Though, he didn't come out and tell her. She knew exactly where Daniel was going tonight and while there was a bar there, there were also women in very little clothing.

She wasn't born yesterday. She knew that the guys were not taking Daniel out to play board games. She was aware of what a bachelor party was. And while she didn't trust Becks, she trusted Daniel fully.

"Is that all you have to say?" Daniel kissed her on the cheek and then he took a seat beside her.

"What else do you want me to say, Daniel? Don't go…." Betty smiled as she looked at his handsome face. It was the one thing that was getting her through this crazy week. It didn't matter that Wilhelmina had made St. Patrick's was unavailable for their ceremony. It didn't matter that the caterers cancelled on them and left Betty scrambling to find someone at the last minute. At the end of the day, nothing matter except the two of them….even if it mean that she had to get married outside in the snow and serve Twinkies at the reception.

"I thought that Hilda wanted to take you out." Daniel said. "You should have some fun too." He reached across the table.

"Too much to do. She is going to throw me a shower after the wedding," said Betty. "Besides, she and Justin are coming over to help me finish this." She motioned to the seating arrangement chart for the reception. She got up and started toward the kitchen. "No time for fun."

He captured her as she walked by and pulled her onto his lap. " 's always time for fun."

"Daniel, aren't you supposed to meet Becks?"

"He can wait. " Daniel brought his lips to hers and kissed her eagerly. When she pulled back, he looked in his eyes. There were moments over the past few days when Betty could look in his eyes and see that there seemed to be something on his mind. Something that he wasn't saying to her.

Betty wondered if Daniel was getting cold feet. After all, this was a huge step and it was so fast. She couldn't totally blame him.

In fact, she was waiting for him to say something. He didn't though. Each day, their plans forged ahead and their wedding day grew closer. Daniel was talking about moving into a bigger apartment and his plans to take her away next month on a delayed honeymoon for four weeks.

So, regardless of her gut instincts, Betty brushed it off as her own insecure feelings. She was just being silly. Daniel loved her. He told the world that in the pages of MODE. They were going to live a long and happy life together.

"Besides, I know that I'll probably be useless when I get home," said Daniel. "And then you will be busy with wedding stuff tomorrow…and then you are staying at your father's tomorrow night. I won't really see you until you walk down the aisle."

Betty smiled. "Yeah…that's right."

"You know, I love you, right?" He rested his head against her neck.

Betty narrowed her eyes. "Yes…Of course, I know that. Otherwise, I would never have agreed to marry you."

"I know." He lifted his head.

"Did I tell you that your dad offered me a new job today?" Betty had been holding off telling Daniel. However, she knew that it was enviable that this subject was going to be brought up when they got involved.

"No."

"While you were out of the office this morning, he called me into his office. He asked if I would be interested in taking the position as his assistant."

"Wow…that's…uh…great." Daniel said unconvincingly.

"What's wrong? It's a really great opportunity," said Betty. "And you knew that this was going to happen as soon as your father found out that we were involved. He's fully aware that we would get nothing done if we worked together."

"Yes. I know that. I…just….I'm going to miss you. I guess." Daniel said half-heartedly.

"It's not like you wouldn't see me. We could still come to work together and have lunch," said Betty. "And I can't really leave until I find my replacement."

"That's true. You're really considering this? What about his current assistant?"

"She is retiring or something. And yes, I think I would be a fool to not at least consider it."

"When do you have to let him know?" Daniel asked curiously. "He does know that we are going away for a month."

"Yes. He said that I can start after we get back from our honeymoon. I told him that I would let him know after the wedding what my decision was."

"That's a good idea. It's never a good idea to jump into something. After all, working for my father directly isn't exactly a cake walk." Daniel pointed out.

"I'm sure…but I think he likes me."

"I know he does. He said he was thrilled that he is going to live long enough to see me settle down. In the same breath though, he said that if you were really smart, you wouldn't marry me at all because you could do better."

"I don't want to do better…because I already have the best. You have such a big heart, Daniel. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you," said Betty sincerely.

"Really…"

"Yes…" She shoved him playfully. "I'm glad that I changed my mind about accepting your proposal. I mean, I'm happy that we could save the magazine and that this month's issue will probably turn out to be one of the top selling issues in the history of MODE. Marrying you isn't about that though. It's about our friendship that we've build in the past few years. It's about your ability to keep me calm when I found out that we had to pretty much plan this whole wedding from scratch in less than a week. It's about the fact that you know that I turn to potatoes in times of crisis. You know me better than anyone…and I know you. I could look for a long time and not find anything else that could even come close to what we have together."

Daniel sighed. "I really don't deserve you, Betty"

"Yes, you do." She said simply.

"What time is Hilda going to be here?" Daniel asked curiously.

"An hour. She's…."

"Come on." He motioned for her to get off his lap. She did.

"What?" Betty gave him a strange look. "What's wrong?" Daniel grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the bedroom, without saying a word. His impatience and urgency told her everything that she needed to know. As they neared the bedroom, Daniel grew more anxious. He stopped and picked her up.

"Daniel…" Betty giggled uncontrollably. "I thought you had somewhere to be."

"It can wait…." Daniel studied her smiling face, as she held onto his neck. "I have something very important that I need to do right now. Besides, I want to spend a few minute blissful minutes before our world erupts in chaos."

"I wouldn't call the wedding chaos. It's an adventure." She continued to cling to him. "And our wedding day is going to be the happiest day of our lives."

"Yeah…" He said simply. Daniel moved forward into the bedroom. He placed her on the bed and then came back and closed the door.


	22. Chapter 22

**Falling (Formerly known as Betty's Dating Coach)**

_Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the show. _

_Author's Note: Beginning with this chapter, the title will be changing from Betty's Dating Coach to Falling. I assure you that this story is far from over. Of course, I could give them a simple happily ever after. What fun would that be? Of course, they will get that…in time. Or will they? (Insert evil laugh here.) _

**Chapter Twenty**

With the sound of his door to his hotel room closing, Daniel was awakened. He immediately closed his eyes when he was blinded by the light from a small crack in the drawn curtains that hit him directly his right eye.

He turned his head eager to escape the invading light and assess his surroundings. He was in the middle of the king sized bed. The comforter, the sheets and all but one pillow had been stripped from the bed. He wore only his boxers.

Daniel slowly sat up to see that his clothes were scattered through the room and even some of the furniture had been knocked over. His head pounded painfully. No doubt due to the massive amount of Scotch that he had consumed the night before at the club.

Due to that, he could only slightly remember Becks keeping up his part of his agreement by making sure that Daniel was plastered by the end of the night. He was surprised the Becks had even agreed to help him with this. Despite Becks' own problems with commitment, Daniel knew that Becks actually liked Betty and had been happy that Daniel had found love.

He was bewildered when Daniel told him the plan. Still, he agreed to help him.

And it was obvious that Becks had held up his part of the bargain. The lasts clear memory that Daniel had was making out with a brunette and coming back here. His body was on auto pilot and in self destruction mode. Though, Daniel didn't have a clear picture of what had actually occurred. It was clear that something had happened here last night.

And Daniel felt physically sick. He jumped out of bed and rushed to empty the contents of his stomach in the toilet. As he vomited, he felt tears fall out of his eyes. The pain was overwhelming and he had no one else to blame but himself.

He had done what he was good at. He had a mess of things. This was just the first step of making sure that Betty wasn't trapped in a marriage that she would later regret. This was his way of protecting her from the poison that was linked to the Meade name.

Of course, there would be no one that would be surprised that he was capable of something like this. Daniel was sure that people were expecting it. They expected him to be a man-whore. He might as well live up to that.

As Daniel sat there on the bathroom floor, he leaned against the wall and thought of his Betty and how much she loved him. The memories of making love to her before he left last night would have to last him a lifetime.

A thought that filled him regret of what he had done. He was sure that no one would believe him if he told them that he had done it because he loved Betty. He had though. Daniel had done this to protect her.

By the end of tomorrow, all the pieces of his plan would be in place. The photos would be dropped onto Page Six the day after the wedding and that would surely send her into the arms of Henry and on her way to Tucson to escape him.

As much as Daniel hated Henry, he knew that Henry could give Betty the one thing that he couldn't .

A happy and normal life that she deserved.

Once he managed to get up from the bathroom floor, he removed the remainder of his clothing and started the shower. As he stepped inside, Daniel hoped that the water would somehow magically wash away all the dirty feelings that he had. The more he tried to wash it away, the dirtier he felt. There wasn't enough soap in the world to take away this feeling that was already slowly eating away at his soul.

Daniel wanted to escape this hell that he had brought on himself. He could only think about Betty and the fact that she was across town, likely fallen asleep working on the last minute details for their wedding.

This only devastated Daniel more. It was enough to make him wonder whether he should just board a plane to Rio and never look back. He couldn't though. There was no turning back. He needed to get through the wedding tomorrow.

He needed to stand in front of their families and other wedding guests and pledge his love for Betty. He needed to put on the show that everyone expected. After all, his whole life had been a show. Once tomorrow was over, he would let her go and she wouldn't have to be a part of that show anymore.

Daniel was the one that made the suggestion to get married. He had started this and he was going to end it. All week, he had done his best to hide his feeling from her. He didn't want her to think that his thoughts meant that he didn't love her. He had gone through the motions of the wedding planning, talking about getting a bigger place for their future family and even talked about their honeymoon that he was planning for next month.

It was a honeymoon that didn't exist…unless you counted the plane ticket to Tucson that he had purchased in her name.

As he got out of the shower and got dressed, he headed home to where he hoped to see Betty one more time before tomorrow. He knew that she and Hilda had a lot of errands today and then he wouldn't see her until the wedding. Then, she would be gone and he would be left alone to his miserable life.

Right now, he didn't even want to consider what his life was going to be like without her. She would not only longer be his girlfriend or fiancée. She would no longer be his assistant either. It hurt to think about it. The only comfort that he had was that for a while he had something perfect.

It was ironic how he thought she was the one that needed help navigating through a relationship. In reality, it had been him. She had taught him how to love and he had also learned that there was something better for Betty waiting in Tucson.

When he left the hotel, there were several paparazzi waiting for him outside the hotel, snapping photos and asking questions. Daniel hurried into the back of the waiting town car.

As the town car made its way back to his Soho loft, the car stopped at a stoplight. Daniel looked over and saw a newsstand. The issue of MODE with him and Betty on the cover was everywhere. The words, How We Fell in Love, jumped off the cover at him. He had a feeling that cover and those words would follow him for the rest of his days, serving as a reminder of what he did and the love that he let go.

Half way home, his cell phone rang. He looked down at it and saw that it was Betty. He took a deep breath and answered.

"Hey."

"Good Morning." Betty said cheerfully.

"Good Morning." Daniel gazed out the window.

"I missed you this morning. You said that you were going to be home late….I didn't think it would be this late. It's almost nine in the morning." Betty still had a happy tone.

"I….yeah…it was a rough night. I crashed at a hotel near the club," said Daniel.

"I see."

"You aren't mad?" Daniel asked.

"Of course not, I'm just glad that you're okay. I love you."

Daniel's heart ached. He knew that her heart was going to be broken and it was going to be his fault. She knew she would bounce back…in time.

"I love you too, Betty. So much." He replied. "I'll be home soon. I'll see you then."

Just hearing her happy tone, he wondered whether he should just go home and have a serious talk with her about what he had done and then just deal with the consequences of his actions.

Perhaps, it was the easiest way out. Or would it be better to just follow through with the plan? Either way, Betty was going to be hurt. Actually, they both were.

"I'm on my way out now. Lots of wedding stuff to attend too," said Betty. "I'll see you tomorrow though."

"Okay." Daniel said half-heartedly. He knew that he had undoubtedly crossed the point of no-return.

As he hung up, he knew that it was probably the best. Even if he had gotten to talk to her, there was no way that Betty would ever forgive him. He should just give her that fairy tale wedding she wanted, complete with an actor that Becks had hired to play the minister. He could play the role of her Prince Charming, just a bit longer before she found out what a beast he really was.


	23. Chapter 23

**Falling**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty. Still._

_Note: Tissue alert…_

**Chapter Twenty One**

Despite all her worry, Betty was extremely pleased with how the wedding turned out. The ceremony, gown, the flowers, the music were flawless. Betty had insisted that Daniel write his own vows. She had opened that it would help him with any cold feet that he was having and make him realize that the only thing that mattered was the love they shared.

It seemed to do the trick too. Daniel got up before everyone and vowed to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health and forsaking all others as long as they both shall live. Even, if his nerves go the best of him for a moment. His sincerity made up for it. She knew he loved her

As the wedding came to a close, she and Daniel crawled into the waiting limo as they left their reception at The Plaza and were on their way to back to their apartment for the evening. Daniel had said he wanted to get them a honeymoon suite. However, Betty insisted that she wanted to be at home tonight.

They needed to have a very important conversation about the doubts that Daniel had been having about this marriage. She had hoped that he would have said something; even asked her late last night to meet him so they could talk…before the wedding.

He didn't though. She hoped at some point. He would tell her that he had Becks hire an actor to play the wedding officiant. Would he tell her that he was behind having the spot at St. Patrick's Cathedral taken, making them scramble for another location at the last minute?

After Becks had called her the night of Daniel's bachelor party, she had left Hilda and Justin with the seating arrangement and went to the club to help Becks managed the extremely inebriated Daniel, who had no idea who she was. By the time they got him to the hotel, he was unmanageable and distraught, muttering feelings of guilt for dragging Betty into marriage.

It was enough to break her heart and make her walk away. There was no way that she could do that she could do that. She loved Daniel and she knew he loved her too. She just wished that he would stop being insecure about their relationship and see that she wasn't being forced into anything at all. She knew exactly what she was getting into when she accepted his proposal.

By the time, they arrived back home. Betty was extremely anxious about whether or not; she should even attempt to bring it up. Despite everything, it was still their wedding night. It was probably best to leave any unpleasant ness for tomorrow.

As they crossed the threshold, Daniel held her in his arms. He kicked the door closed and carried her immediately into the bedroom.

"Anxious…" Betty giggled.

He placed her down and looked into his eyes. There, she saw a mixture of tears of happiness and sadness.

"Yes." Daniel took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. His hands raked down the back of the wedding gown.

Then, he broke away for a moment. The look on his face told her that there was something that he wanted to say.

"You okay, Mr. Meade?" Betty wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you." He kissed her lips softly.

"I love you." Betty kissed him in return. "Today was wonderful. Everything that I wanted it to be."

"Good." Daniel tried to manage a smile. It was clear that his guilt was bubbling though. "I just want you to be happy, Betty."

"I know you do." Betty sighed. She believed him when he told her that. Of course, it didn't mean that he was off the hook for not being honest with her about how he had been feeling.

Daniel looked into her eyes. "Betty, there's something that I need to tell you. I …."

Betty brought her finger to his lips, stopping him from saying anything tonight. There was no way that she wanted to mess up this perfect day. It could wait.

"Not right now. Not tonight. The only thing I need to know right now is that you love me," said Betty sincerely.

"I do." Just like he had recited earlier.

"Okay. Now, I need you to get me out of this dress." Betty loosened his tie, pulling it down and away. Then, she swiftly began unbuttoning his shirt.

Daniel nodded his head in agreement and obeyed her order, turning her around and slowly unbuttoned the long line of buttons that trailed down her back. As the night went on, Betty closed off her mind from anything else other than being with Daniel.

Early the next morning, Betty woke up to an empty bed. Daniel's side was abandoned. She grabbed his dress shirt and slipped it on and made her way into the living room. There she found him on the couch alone.

"There you are." She made her way over to the couch and sat down beside him. She kissed him on the cheek. "You're up early."

"Hey…" Daniel said solemnly. "I couldn't sleep." He stared down at the rolled up newspaper on the coffee table.

"Poor baby….come back to bed." She said playfully. "And I'm sure I could wear you out."

Daniel smiled for only a split second. Then, his expression returned the somber one he carried moments early.

"Betty, we need to talk." He said bluntly.

"Okay…" Here came his confession about the cold feet that he had in the days before the wedding. All the complications and doubts he had about making her a Meade.

"I've done something." He began slowly. Betty could see that he was trying to choose his words carefully. He turned towards her and reached for her hand. "And I really need you to listen to me and believe me when I say that I love more than anything in the world."

Betty nodded, as she readied himself for the confession about his wedding sabotage. "Betty, the night of my bachelor party….I slept with someone."

Betty felt a shock run through her body. That was not the confession that she expected to hear come from his lips.

"What?" She stood up, pulling her hand away. She wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible.

"Betty, I didn't expect it to go that far. I promise you. It was just supposed to be a few pictures."

"Pictures? There are pictures." Betty's eyes filled with tears.

"They are supposed to be on Page Six this morning. I haven't brought myself to look at them."

"Why? Oh…wait. I know why….you were having doubts that I could handle this new life as a Meade. You were trying to protect me. Well…Daniel, I hate to tell you this but I am a big girl. I can handle it. I would have never agreed to marry you, otherwise. I loved you and I would do anything for our life together. Now….this."

Betty felt tears fall down her cheek. How could he do this to her? Why couldn't he have just been honest with her? He said he would never do this…and now he had done it.

"Betty, you deserve better than me. This was the only way. This way everyone thinks it was my fault that the marriage didn't work. People expect this of me."

"That's crazy." She sobbed. "You aren't that guy…..Or maybe, I was wrong." She crossed her arms, unable to look at him. "I just never thought you would do something like this to me."

Daniel got up and moved towards her. "Betty…"

"Stay away from me, Daniel. Don't…" She pointed at him. This was not how she pictured it at all. The day was supposed to be much different. The day she had envisioned was them talking about his feelings and then they would go have breakfast down the block.

He reached for the shelf and grabbed a piece of paper. "Betty, you need to go to Tucson. I bought you a ticket."

"Are you crazy? First, you cheat on me…and then you buy me a plane ticket to Tucson. The day after our wedding." Betty grabbed the paper and tore it up. She couldn't remember ever being angrier than she was in this moment.

"About that…" Daniel started towards her.

"I know that you hired an actor to marry us. I know about the church…I know the caterers cancelling. I knew that you were behind all of it."

"What?" Daniel lifted his eyes. "You know that we aren't really married."

Betty didn't say anything. All she could do was wipe her tears.

"Betty, I just want you to be happy. Henry can give you what I can't."

"Daniel, I didn't want Henry. I wanted you. And don't give me that I want you to be happy crap." She wiped her tears and continued. "I should have listened to my dad and Hilda. I was the one that told that convinced them that you weren't the playboy that everyone thought you were. I told them that you wouldn't break my heart and that you were a good man."

"Betty, I'm sorry."

"Daniel, that's not going to cut it. You made me fall in love you and now, you have broken my heart. So...congratulations. You've done what you are good at. Screwing up your life and pushing people that love you away."

With that, Betty turned and heard for the bedroom. She slammed the bedroom door and allowed the tears to fall.


	24. Chapter 24

**Falling**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty or these characters_**.**

**Chapter Twenty Two**

As Daniel listened to the sounds of Betty crying on the other side of the bedroom door, he was filled with regret that he had brought this much pain on her. With every sob, he felt a stabbing pain in his heart that he knew he would not forget for the rest of his life.

"Betty, come out so we can talk about this." Daniel knocked lightly on the locked door.

"No." She snapped tearfully. "There's nothing to talk about. Just go away, Daniel."

Daniel rested his forehead against the door. "Betty…"

He knew it was no use. He had been trying to get her to come out of their bedroom for almost an hour. With every minute that passed by, he was less convinced that she was ever coming out of there, unless it meant that she had all her belongings in tow.

He was surprised that he didn't hear the sounds of closet doors and dresser drawers slamming yet. One thing he did know, she clearly did not want to go to Tucson now…or ever.

As he made his way back to the couch, he saw the unused plane ticket that he had bought her, ripped into smaller pieces, scattered across the living room floor that proved proof that she did not want to be with Henry Grubstick.

When Daniel sat back down on the couch, his eyes were drawn to the rolled up newspaper that sat on the coffee table. It was a scorching reminder of his mistake and the pain that he had caused Betty.

Reluctantly, he reached forward and opened the paper. He moved quickly to the section he was looking for to assess how bad the damage was. He was surprised that he hadn't gotten a call from his father about the scandalous photos and telling him in a stern tone that he was an idiot.

When he arrived at Page Six, Daniel stopped suddenly. It was not what he had expected at all. There on the page were photos of him and Betty going into the St. Regis hotel a couple nights early. It was clear in the photo that Daniel was having a hard time keeping his hands to himself, as Betty helped him from the cab. The tender look in Betty's eyes as she took care of him made Daniel's heart break.

"Betty…" He whispered to himself.

He searched his memories of that night. He came up with nothing. The pictures were clear though. Betty had been the brunette that had accompanied him back to the hotel that night.

Shit! Becks must have called her and told her that he was on the verge of doing something stupid.

He had confessed for nothing. Nothing happened and if it did, it was with Betty. Daniel shot up from his spot on the couch and headed to the bedroom to try again. After all, he had the proof in his hand.

He knocked again. "Betty…sweetie. Please open the door."

"Don't sweetie me. Go away, Daniel." She called out. "I don't want to see you. You make me sick."

In the years that Daniel had known Betty, he had seen her mad before. Never had he ever heard her voice laced with such disgust.

He had hurt her. His need to protect her had only made things worse. Daniel briefly wondered if there was any way that he could fix this. He knew that he had to try.

"Betty, I didn't cheat on you. There has been a misunderstanding." Daniel placed his hand against the door. "Please let me in so that I can explain."

Daniel heard footsteps begin to cross the floor. They began to move rapidly towards the door. He backed away when he heard the door lock turn.

The door flew open. There he saw a red-eyed, red-faced Betty, clutching a tissue. "Why do you think that I would believe anything you say?" She stepped towards him. "I trusted you, Daniel."

"Betty, I didn't do anything. I…I…was just too drunk to remember what actually happened. Why didn't you tell me that you were there with me at the hotel? You were the brunette that I thought…" He turned the photos that were splashed across Page Six towards her.

"Was someone else that you slept with." She raised an eye brow as she finished.

"Yes." Daniel said reluctantly.

Betty crossed her arms and stared at him. "Don't you see this doesn't make things better?"

"Betty, you were with me at the hotel."

"Yes. I was."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I….I didn't think about it. I was kind of preoccupied with the wedding." Her tone was still harsh. "Anyway, you didn't ask. I figured that Becks would have told you. He came back to the hotel that morning and was supposed to stay with you."

"I was totally alone when I woke up. I don't even remember him being there." Daniel could see that he wasn't getting through to Betty though. She had clearly built up a wall.

"Daniel, whether or not I was there, doesn't really matter because it doesn't fix the fact that you thought that I was another woman that you picked up at the club and then you had sex with me."

She added, "Besides, how am I supposed to believe that you weren't with someone earlier that night? After all, it seems pretty clear that you had plans to sabotage our marriage."

"Betty, I love you." He pleaded.

"I'm sorry. I don't believe you. I can't…" She shook her head and turned around and headed back into the bedroom.

He followed her. "Betty, I didn't sleep with anyone else. You can ask Becks. I'm sure he can confirm that." Daniel was starting to get more desperate the more defensive that Betty became.

Betty went over to the dresser and retrieved her cell phone. She handed it to him. "Here you go. Call him."

He took the phone and dialed that number that he knew so well. It went directly to voice mail. Daniel left Becks a message to call him right away but chose not to go into details on the message or in front of Betty, for fear of saying anything that might make things worse.

"He didn't answer. I think he might be on a plane right now."

Betty took her phone back. "Whatever. I don't think anything he could say right now is going to help you out of this one. It's like I said. You thought I was another woman." She said coldly. "Plus, you have the nerve to buy me a plane ticket to Tucson…where you thought I would be happy with Henry. And you planned to give it to me AFTER our fake wedding. At first, I thought that it was just cold feet…but now, it is so much worse than that."

Daniel knew she was right. He had really made a mess of things. He had dug a hole so deep that he might never get out of it.

She added. "Daniel, he is having a baby with Charlie. Why would I want to bring myself into that? He broke my heart. End of story. I moved on with you….or at least, I thought that I did. You think you are such an expert on what makes me happy. You made me happy….so happy." She wiped the tears away that fell down her cheek as she continued her rant.

"I know you don't believe me and you have every right not to." Daniel admitted. "I've been stupid and selfish. I should have been honest with you about how I was feeling."

"You can't change the past. The damage has been done." She said regrettably.

"What are you going to do now?" Daniel asked her. Though, he had prepared himself for her leave. It was a different story now.

She lifted her eyes to his. "Well, I'm going to call your father and tell him that I want to start my new job right away. Tomorrow, in fact. I don't think it's a good idea for me to work with you, especially when I can barely look at you."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"No. What happens with us stays between us. "She replied.

"Us. So…you are still saying that there could still be an us."

Betty rolled her eyes. "I didn't say that, Daniel. I don't really know what I'm going to do right now. Our wedding was yesterday. The whole world is going to be watching us. The last thing I'm going to do is go down and file for divorce on Monday."

"Oh." He said simply. "I guess….that wouldn't….wait, did you just say divorce?"

"Yes. I did." She said bluntly.

"Betty, I hate to point it out to you. Our wedding wasn't exactly legal. The guy that married us was an actor that Becks hired to perform the ceremony. There is no marriage certificate being filed."

"Daniel, that's where you are wrong." Betty said solemnly. "You see…since Becks filled me in, I went ahead and got someone else to perform the ceremony. Our wedding is legal. We are married and I am your wife….at least for now."


	25. Chapter 25

**Falling- Chapter Twenty Three**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._

**Chapter Twenty Three**

To say that Betty was unhappy with Daniel right now would be an understatement. Yesterday had been their first official day as a married couple. In that day, she had experienced a wide array of emotions, not one of them was even close to the happiness that a new bride should feel.

Instead of spending the day wrapped up in her new husband's arms in bed, she spent the day in bed alone with a box of tissues. After their few conversations, the only time she saw Daniel was when he tried to bring her something to eat. Otherwise, he honored her request to give her time alone, so that she could think.

It seemed impossible to wrap her mind around the fact that Daniel would come up with this plan to actually send her away. It broke her heart to think that he thought so little of their love that he would go to such great lengths to give her what he thought she deserved.

That was probably the second most disturbing thing, behind the whole other woman thing.

Daniel obviousl didn't hink that she deserved him. Betty's own insecurities about Daniel's past slowly crept into the forefront of her mind.

Was she not pretty enough? Was she not thin enough? Would she ever be able to live up to Meade name?

Strike that though. The Meade family was hardly the picture-perfect family.

But Bett didn't arry Daniel's family. She married him.

Maybe, it was better not to try to make sense of this. Maybe, she should just walk away from it all. Maybe, she should hold on and give Daniel the chance to try to make this right.

Would she just end up hurt again? Was it worth it to take chance when Daniel was so good at messing things up….leaving her to fix them?

More than anything, she wanted to believe that this could be fixed. The odds were not in their favor. Her brain was screaming for her to pack all her things and run. Her heart was another matter. It was telling her that the Daniel that she loved was worth the chance….if he wanted it.

Perhaps, it was her heart's way of telling her that he was the only one that could heal her heart now that it had been shattered.

All night, she lied in her and Daniel's bed alone, while he slept on the couch. As upset as she was, she still ached for him. She resisted the temptation to go out and bring to bed in the middle of the night with the hopes that his presence would help her get some sleep.

Sh couldn't ive in that easy. If she did, Daniel would learn nothing from any of this and they would end up divorced before they hit a year of marriage.

With a final glance in the mirror, she glanced up and down at the black dress she wore. Not her usual colorful choice. However, it matched how felt inside right now.

Betty slowly made her way through the living room. She moved carefully. The last thing that she wanted was for Daniel to wake up and ask her why she was going to work so early. Or ask her what he needed to do to make this right.

The answer about going into the office this early was to clean out her desk before Daniel got there. The answer to what he needed to do to make this right…well, she had no idea.

She wanted to give him another chance to prove himself. The truth was that he was going to have to figure this out for himself. If he really truly loved her, he was going to have to work to win back her trust and his way into her heart.

When she passed by, she saw Daniel sleeping. She stopped for a moment. It took every bit of self-control for her not to burst into tears. Sh didn't now how she was going to manage to make it through the day, pretending that everything was okay while people issued their congratulations on her and Daniel's marriage at the office.

She closed her eyes tightly and wished away the tears. She had to find the strength. She had a new job to do. Betty knew that she needed to focus…on something other than Daniel.

After all, it was Daniel's place to prove that he wanted to be with her and that he wanted to be committed to their marriage.

With a final glance, she gathered her emotions and made her way to the door and away from her sleeping husband.

Once Betty arrived at Meade Publications, it was almost like she arrived on another planet. It was odd feeling for the security staff to address her as Mrs. Meade now. Before, it had just been Betty.

It was the same with the other employees that she encountered as well. She wasn't sure that she liked this. The only two people tha hadn't ddressed her as Mrs. Meade, was Amanda and Marc. Betty had to say that was a welcomed change until Amanda pointed out that she had slept with Betty's husband- _a lot._

Betty could have lived without that reminder of Daniel's past.

As Betty packed up her desk, she packed two separate boxes. One with box the things that she wanted to take with her upstairs to her new desk. The other that she would have messengered over to the loft that contained her bunny and other knick knacks.

She was pretty sure that her bunny had no place in her new office space. Betty suddenly felt like she was actually packing up her old self and entering a strange new world, where the Betty Suarez of the past didn't exist.

Now, she was beginning to question whether she belonged here at all. Could have Daniel been correct in his assessment that she would be much happier somewhere else?

Would she fit in as a Meade? Would she be taken seriously? Would she lose herself totally in the process even more than she already had?

She felt herself start to fall apart. The combination of her problems with Daniel added to how alien everything felt now. It was too much for Betty to handle.

She felt the walls closing in around her. Betty needed to get some air. She jumped from her chair and hurried through the halls of MODE. As she turned the corner to head through the tube, she ran right into something…or actually someone.

_Daniel._

His hands reached out for her protectively to keep her from tumbling backwards. His strong hands till rested on her arms long after she was steady.

As she slowly lifted her eyes, her heart pounded. She found it almost impossible to breath

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

She wanted to speak but she found that equally as impossible as breathing. They both stood there for a few minutes in silence.

"Betty…" He said softly. "Say something."

Suddenly, Betty snapped out of it and pulled away from him. "I….yes…I'm fine."

"I missed you this morning." He lifted his hand to her cheek and spoke in a tone that was so sincere that it left her weak. "You should have woke me up before you left."

"I had a lot to do today. I have to pack my desk and move upstairs. I have to start looking for your new assistant."

She added coldly. "Which reminds me? Do you want a blonde, big-boobed bimbo for your assistant? Or would you prefer a brunette?"

"Betty, I don't want anyone else." He said quietly. He was careful not to let anyone overhear their conversation.

"Daniel, this is not the time or place to talk about this." She quickly looked around.

"Why not? Are you afraid that someone is going to hear that the only woman I want is my wife?"

"You know what I'm talking about." She sighed.

"I don't want you to go. I don't want another assistant." He said bluntly. "I only want you."

"You have a funny way of showing it," said Betty. "Besides, no matter what happens…with us. A close working relationshi wouldn't ork. We can't move backwards. All we can do is move forward."

" 've ade some mistakes…..actually; make that a lot of mistakes. I just need you to know that no matter what you might think right now. I do love you."

"Daniel, I have a lot to do today. I need to go." She pulled away from him, feeling drawn to him. Her defenses weakened a little more by the second. "I don't have time for this."

"Do you want to have lunch today? I'll take you anywhere you want." Daniel said. "Maybe, we can even stop for dessert on the way back."

Betty's eyes grew wide. "Daniel…"

Daniel chuckled. "I was thinking ice cream, Betty. Not sex….but I could be up for that too, if you are." He ran his hand down her arm, causing her skin to erupt in chills.

Betty stepped away again. "Daniel, I really can't. I'll be busy all day…and even tonight, I'll…I'll be home late. I'm having dinner with your father and some business associates."

"Betty…"

"I have to go. Don't wait up tonight." Betty turned and made her way out through the tube.


	26. Chapter 26

**Falling**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty either. I'm saving my pennies though. I think I have a couple dollars. Do you think that will be enough?_

**Chapter Twenty Four**

If there was ever a day that Daniel wished that he could go back home and crawl under the covers (on his couch), this would be that day. First, he woke up and found that Betty had left for the office without him.

He had hoped that that he would have been able to take her to breakfast, giving him the opportunity to begin to try to get things back to normal.

Once he arrived at the office, he tried to turn on the charm and get Betty to have lunch with him….even offering to take her for dessert. His attempts were halted. She was simply too busy to have lunch with him.

Daniel couldn't say that he wasn't hurt that she was so short with him. He deserved it though. But he was trying. Shouldn't that count for something at all?

As he went on through his day, Betty's absence from MODE continued to affect him more and more. When he had to get his own coffee and bagel, he quickly found out that he didn't even seem to know how to make his own coffee anymore. It seemed that Betty had found some magical combination of cream and sugar, that he seemed unable to replicate, no matter how much he tried.

He had thought about calling her and asking her about it. Then, he realized that would only provide further confirmation that she had married an idiot.

_Married._

He still couldn't believe that they were actually married too. Out of everything though, he was grateful for that little fact. If they weren't married, Betty probably would have already left him. As long as they were married and living together, Daniel wanted to believe that there was still a chance that he could find a way to win her back.

And he knew that crawling back under the covers was not going to win Betty back, he had to work at it every day, even when she was unreceptive to her attempts. He didn't care how long that it took.

Daniel did his best to try to get used to office life without Betty. After all, he knew that working with his father was an amazing opportunity for her. She deserved that and Daniel would make sure that she continued to find the success he knew she wanted.

He was sure going to miss looking up through the glass and seeing Betty's beautiful smile every single day. The only view that he had now was of the temp that she had hired until they could fill the position permanently.

He was pretty sure that his temp Eugene was not going to be the person to fill that position either. Eugene probably was a great guy. It just seemed that the only thing that he was capable of doing was staring at Daniel's backside when he walked away and making him as uncomfortable as possible.

He wondered if Betty had paid him extra for that.

Still, it was better than some assistant that Betty could accuse him of flirting with…or worse, sleeping with. Maybe, Eugene was the perfect candidate for the job.

Before Daniel left the office to rush home and get ready for the dinner (that he invited himself too), he told Eugene to make sure that Betty had fresh flowers on her desk at all times and to make sure that he always had a reservation to the hottest new restaurants in town…so that he could take Betty out.

If he could get her to agree, that is.

Regardless, Daniel hoped that his enthusiasm would give Eugene the message that Daniel was in love with his wife.

Thanks to Eugene's distractions on his first day. Daniel was running late. As soon as the town care came to a stop outside Madison Six, Daniel jumped out and rushed through the front door.

As soon as he got inside, he looked around for his father and Betty. He scanned the restaurant. Finally, his eyes stopped when he saw Betty sitting at the bar. In a royal blue dress, she looked stunning. Her smile was as radiant as ever, as she sat talking to the person beside her.

Daniel's eyes were drawn to the person she was talking to. A tall, blonde -haired man that had to be in his late 20's and seemed enamored with Betty. Didn't this guy know that Betty was newly married? It's been on television and in all the papers.

So, Daniel wasted no time in crossing the room to get to Betty.

"Betty…" Daniel called out as he got closer.

Betty turned and her eyes widened in surprise. She obviously didn't expect him to be there. "Daniel…"

"Hello, sweetie. I'm sorry that I'm late." Daniel kissed Betty on the cheek. "That assistant that you hired me got the time wrong."

"Oh…I'll talk to him." Betty was stunned.

Daniel turned to the younger man across from Betty. "And this is…"

"Oh…Daniel, this is Derek Davidson. He's the new editor of _Psychology Now_." Betty said plainly.

"Daniel Meade." Daniel extended his hand to Derek.

"Oh…of course, you're Bradford's son." Derek shook Daniel's hand firmly.

"Yes…I am." Daniel confirmed.

"I've met to get down to the 28th floor and meet you and your sister." Derek flashed Betty as smiled. "This little lady had been keeping me quite busy all day, getting settled into my office."

"Is that so?" Daniel glanced over at Betty. She seemed nervous.

"Yeah. She's pretty special." Derek looked at Betty appreciatively.

"I couldn't agree more. I'm a lucky man to be married to her."

"Married? I thought your name was Suarez."

"Actually, we just got married this weekend." Daniel said. "She's still not used to using her married name. Isn't that right, sweetie?"

"Yeah." Betty nodded meekly.

"I'm sorry. I just got into town and really haven't had time to catch up on the news," said Derek.

"So where's my father?" Daniel placed his hand on her back. "I thought he was joining us for dinner."

"Actually, he's resting. He wasn't feeling well. I insisted that he go home," said Betty.

"And he listened to you?" Daniel chuckled.

"He did. I assured him that I could take care of everything," said Betty.

"And she has been doing a great job." Derek reached forward and placed his hand on Betty's leg.

Daniel knew better than to call Derek out on his move on Betty. It was not the time to allow his jealousy to push Betty away even further. For now, Daniel would just keep his eye on this guy.

"Our table should be ready now," said Betty. She seemed suddenly impatient to get to the table and bury her face in the menu, to avoid any other conversations.

"Good idea." Derek grinned.

Daniel helped her down from the bar stool. He kept her hands in his, unwilling to let go of her as he led her to their table. There was no way that Daniel was going to let this Derek character see any weakness in his and Betty's marriage.

Once they were seated, it seemed that time began to move slower. As they moved through the dinner, Betty and Derek became consumed with _Psychology Now_ business. Betty told Derek that she would arrange a meeting with Alexis to help him get adjusted further.

That was the best idea that Daniel heard all night as he watched Derek fawn over Betty. The more he heard this guy talk, the further away that he wanted him from his wife.

Daniel was grateful when there was a break in the conversation that stirred away from business and back to him and Betty.

"So…how did the two of you meet?" Derek asked curiously.

"I…uh…was Daniel's assistant for two years."

"Wow…you've been together for two years," said Derek.

"Yeah." Daniel didn't think it was necessary to give this guy all the details of what his and Betty's relationship history entailed.

"Actually, we've only been together for a few weeks and married for two days." Betty corrected him.

"That might be true but Betty has always been an essential part of my life. There are times when I don't think that could breathe without her." Daniel reached for her hand, lifting it to his lips. "I love her so much."

Daniel's eyes met Betty's. Then she took them away as her hand dropped back down. Betty quickly moved to get up from the table. He and Derek both rose from their seats.

"Excuse me…I'll be…I'll be back."

Daniel watched as Betty rushed through the restaurant towards the ladies room. After ten minutes, Daniel had paid the bill and Betty still had not returned. He excused himself and went off in search of Betty, while Derek said that he would be waiting in the bar.

He made his way down the hall, just as Betty came out of the ladies room. He could tell that she had been crying, despite her attempt to mask that from him.

"Betty…"

She tried to move past him but he captured her hand, as she moved by him. "Daniel, we need…"

"He's at the bar." Daniel said firmly. He looked in her eyes. "We need to talk."

"I just need to…"

"He's fine, Betty. But if you think that he's more important than us, you just go ahead."

Betty stood there in silence. "Can't this wait?"

Daniel reached for her hand and led her into a curtained private dining area that was down the hall. Once inside the darkened room, they were out of view of others.

"Betty, I need you to talk to me." Daniel brought his hand to her cheeks. Her tears started falling again. His thumb brushed away the tears.

Betty lifted her eyes to his. "Daniel, I need you to listen to me." Her tone is shaky.

"Okay." Daniel nodded.

"I think that it would be a good idea for us to spend some time apart. I should move out."

"What? Betty, I know that I've been an idiot. We need to work on this together."

"I need some time away from you."

"What are we going to tell everyone? I thought you didn't want to tell anyone about this."

"I still want to keep this private. We can get another apartment. I can stay there and you can stay at the loft."

"It's this Derek guy, isn't it?" Daniel said coldly.

"No." She said bluntly.

"I think it is. I see the way that he looks at you. He wants you, Betty."

"I'm not interested in Derek. That is purely business, Daniel."

"I know how my father does business. Is he grooming you to follow in his footsteps? Is Derek going to be your version of Fey Sommers?"

"What?" She snapped. "You are questioning my fidelity to you. That's a joke."

"Well, it seems that you are so hot to get away from me…the same day this guy rides into town on his white horse."

"Daniel, you are the one that screwed this all up. You were the one that came up with the plan to get rid of me. You should be thrilled that I've made this decision." She said heatedly. It was clear that she had no idea what effect this fighting was having on him.

"I don't want you to get away from me, Betty. In fact…." Daniel grinned playfully. He reached for her, pulling her to him before she could stop him and planted his lips on hers.


	27. Chapter 27

**Falling (aka Betty's Dating Coach)**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Five**

As she and Daniel stood in the darkened private dining area of Madison Six, she crossed her arms, furious at Daniel's accusations about her being attracted to the handsome new editor-in-chief of Psychology Now.

"Daniel, you are the one that screwed this all up. You were the one that came up with the plan to get rid of me. You should be thrilled that I've made this decision." She said heatedly.

Sure. Derek was charming but she was still a married woman, even if the future of their marriage was in question. Her relationship with Derek was strictly professional and had nothing to do with the decision to move out of the loft.

Betty narrowed her eyes, watching him move closer to her. The grin on her face told her that he was up to no good. "I don't want you to get away from me, Betty. In fact…"

Before she could stop him, he pulled her to him and his lips were hot against hers. Betty wanted to pull away and she tried to wiggle free from his strong grasp. She pushed gently against his chest as he deepened the kiss.

The longer they kissed, the more futile her attempts to escape became.

"Daniel…" She moaned.

She found herself lost in the feeling of his lips against her skin as he made a trail of hot kisses from her lips down to her neck.

"God…I love this dress on you." He murmured, nuzzling against her breasts. His hands wandered over her curves, as he quickly moved her back against the wall further. "So sexy, honey."

It was apparent where Daniel was headed with this. She could feel his intentions as he pressed against her. Betty glanced toward the exit and then back at Daniel. "Daniel, we can't…"

"Why not?" He said playfully. "Betty, I love you." His blue eyes were very effective at hypnotizing her into not making a break for the exit. Her feet suddenly felt like they were stuck to the floor beneath her.

His tone was clearly sincere and that touched her. She knew that she was being difficult since everything had unraveled.

"I love you too." She said plainly. She pulled her eyes away for a moment before returning to Daniel's pleasant expression.

Daniel's eyes seemed to spark with happiness. "I'm so glad you said that. I was starting to think that …maybe, you were starting to change your mind about that."

"I never said that I stopped loving you, Daniel. It's just…this is serious. You can't simply blink your amazing blue eyes of yours and tell me you love me and expect me to just forgive you." She whispered, as she tried to control her breathing. She didn't want encourage him further by letting him know that he was having any effect on her.

"What do you want me to do? I'm trying here. I told you that I was sorry and that I want this to work….and that I love you. I don't know what else you want me to do."

"You just need to give me time to sort things out, Daniel." She felt tears come to her eyes.

"Do you have to do it in another apartment though?" Daniel asked calmly.

"I think that it would be the best thing for both of us." She lifted her eyes to his.

"I just don't understand how that can be the best thing. We just got married, Betty."

"Yes…thanks to me. We're married. If it were up to you, we would not be married and you would have put me on a plane to Tucson," said Betty.

"I want to be your husband, Betty."

"Daniel, we don't make any sense. We got into this so fast that both of u didn't ven think everything through."

She added. "There is a corporate apartment that I can stay in for the moment until we decide. We can just tell everyone that we need a bigger place…and that we are in the process of moving."

"If you want a bigger place, I'll buy you a place."

"No." Betty said firmly. "I…I…don't want you to buy me anything."

"I'm not buying it for you. I'm buying for us. The loft is too small and we are going to need the room in the future."

"Why do you have to make things more complicated, Daniel?" Betty's frustration was growing once again.

"Because I'm not going to just let you run away because somethin isn't asy." His face moved closer to hers. "If you have a problem with that, that's tough. You better get used to it. I'm not going away."

Betty took a deep breath and exhaled. "You drive me crazy. One minute, you want me to go away…and the next; I can't get rid of you."

"Oh…so you want to get rid of me now. I find that very hard to believe." He said seductively. "You know you can only resist me for so long."

"Your ego is huge." Betty's eyes locked with Daniel's.

Without any other words exchanged, Daniel moved forward once again. With his lips against hers, she struggled to find control of her bubbling desires, even though she knew that she needed to control this. She knew that she needed to stop this right now because allowing this to go any further would only confuse the situation.

She needed to remain firm and keep him at a distance. A matter of minutes later, Betty would find herself an utter failure. As Daniel kisses grew hotter, his hands found their way underneath her royal blue dress. Everything was happening so fast. Before she knew it, Daniel had her on top of a small table.

Yes. She had failed miserably….and for the first time in her life, she allowed herself to revel in that failure.

Once they were done, he pulled her into his embrace. It was then that the reality of what happened slowly began to seep into her mind.

Betty wiggled out of his grasp and started scrambling to make sure that all her clothing was in place and locate her missing high heel that had tumbled to the floor when he made love to her.

"Betty…" Daniel moved to pull up his pants and zip them.

ldquo;Oh My God! What have I done?" Betty knelt down to look underneath the table, where she located her black heel.

"We just made love, Betty." Daniel buttoned his jacket.

"In a public place. Anyone could have walked in on us?" Betty said frantically.

"Nobody did."

"Is this your idea of romancing me, Daniel?"

"You weren't complaining a minute ago." Daniel moved towards her and tried to touch her. She stepped back. "You seemed to enjoy yourself."

She put on her shoe and then slammed her foot to the floor. "Just tell me that you've never done this before."

"Done what….had sex?"

"How did you know about this room?" Betty asked. "You've had sex in here before."

"Come on, Betty. You are not seriously asking me that," said Daniel.

"Tell me." Betty knew that Daniel would frequently take his dates to this very restaurant.

"I'm not going to answer that."

"That's what I thought." Betty said sharply.

"Betty, I'm not going to answer that because there is no right answer to that. Either way, you would think I was lying to you."

"You're right. I would." Betty said solemnly.

"I can't change the past. I can only try to make a better future. We just made love, Betty. I think that's a step in the right direction."

"Sex isn't going to fix this, Daniel."

"Then, I'll go to counseling with you. I'll do anything." Daniel pleaded now. Betty was almost certain that he was able to fall on both of his knees. "Let's go home and talk about this."

"Daniel, this is not how I imagined things would be when I got married….Okay?" She snapped. "Thi isn't oing to be fixed overnight or at all."

She added. "I told you that I need time and all you can do is push me."

"Betty…"

"Daniel, I don't know if I can do this." She started crying. "I really want to make it work but I'm starting to wonder, if it's possible."

"Of course, you can. We both can." Daniel tried to comfort her. She backed toward the exit.

Betty was unable to contain her tears, as they began to stream down her cheeks. "Honesty, the only thing I can think of right now is divorcing you." Betty said bluntly. "And starting over."

"No. I love you."

"If you love me, just let me go then." Betty hated herself as she spoke those words. She didn't want to let go of Daniel. "I just need to start over."

With that, Betty grabbed her bag and rushed through the curtains. She headed for the exit of the restaurant.

Just as a cab pulled up to the curb, she heard her name called. She turned and saw Derek running towards her.

"Betty, are you okay?" Derek asked. "Have you been crying? What's wrong? Where's Daniel?"

Betty looked toward the exit when she heard her name once again. She saw Daniel rushing towards them.

"Come on." Betty pulled Derek into the cab with her. She ordered the driver to leave quickly, leaving Daniel standing on the sidewalk.


	28. Chapter 28

**Falling (aka Betty's Dating Coach)**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._

* * *

**Chapter 26**

It had been almost two weeks since Daniel saw Betty crawl into the back of the taxi cab with Derek and watched them speed off to places unknown, just leaving him standing there on the sidewalk, feeling like someone had kicked him in the stomach.

When he returned home from Madison Six that night, he had hoped to find Betty there waiting for him, telling her that she was sorry that she stormed off and that she was ready to talk and do whatever they had to do to fix their crumpling marriage.

Luck was not on his side. Instead of talking things through, he laid awake that night waiting for the phone to ring and hoping that it was her voice on the other end. At least, telling him that she was alright.

That phone call never came that night. Instead, he returned home from the office the following day and found her suitcase was missing and half of her things were taken from the bedroom closet. She didn't even leave a note.

It wasn't until the next day when Daniel found out from his father that Betty had gone out of town on business. His father had even gone as far as to apologize for sending Betty away on urgent business at MODE UK, during their first week of marriage. Daniel played along like he knew everything.

His father also showed his approval once again by telling Daniel that he had made an excellent choice for his bride. To quote his father, he said that Betty was going to be a valuable asset to the future of Meade Publications….and the future of the Meade family.

This only confirmed to Daniel that Betty had not even hinted that there was trouble in paradise. And the last thing that Daniel was going to do was tell his father that he had messed up the best thing that ever happened to him.

As the days passed, Betty returned from her London trip. With her return, he knew that it was inevitable that they would have to see each other. Otherwise, people would start to wonder about the status of their relationship, if they weren't seen together.

After all, their engagement photo still graced the current issue of MODE and their wedding was still the talk of the town.

Just as predicted, Daniel got a call that afternoon, asking him to escort her to a charity event the next night. He did.

Then, he got another one a few nights after that…and then another.

All these appearances had been the same. She would meet him at his apartment and change clothes. They would get in the limo and arrive together, smiling for photos. They would mingle for twenty minutes, have one dance, one kiss and they would always keep the conversation about Meade business.

With each encounter, Daniel felt more like Betty was his business associate and no longer his wife. It seemed that his father was rubbing off on Betty quickly. Just like Bradford Meade, she was burying herself in her work, instead of facing the problems in her marriage.

He was starting to understand more and more why his mother drank and was driven to murder his father's mistress. The avoidance of the subject at hand was starting to drive Daniel insane. How he wished his mother wasn't on the run right now? He really could use her help. He felt that she was the one person that might actually be able to help him with his problems with Betty.

Every time, he got to spend time with Betty. Daniel hoped that the night would end differently. He hoped that he could get her to agree to go with him…and they could get some coffee and they could talk.

It always ended the same though…with an excuse for one of them to leave early. Betty usually insisted that he be the one to go home, telling everyone that he was sick…or that there was MODE business that he simply couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Betty said that she needed to stay and that his father was depending on her. She barely seemed to know when he left the room. He could have said that he had an appointment to jump off the Empire State Building and he was beginning to believe that she wouldn't have tried to stop him.

Tonight was proof of that. Betty had practically dismissed him when Derek asked to cut in on the one dance he had with Betty. She accepted. It was so blunt that Daniel felt burned and used. It made Daniel wonder whether divorce papers would soon be delivered to him.

All the signs seemed to be there. This wasn't the first time that Daniel had seen Betty and Derek together. It seemed that in the last week he couldn't leave his office without seeing them going to lunch together…or going down the street to Starbucks. He had even seen her having lunch with her brief crush, Harold two days ago.

Yes. Betty had found plenty of time to spend with these other men. No time to spend with the man she was actually married too.

Daniel didn't know what to do. He knew that he should confront her about this. His history of attempts though had made his hesitant to do anything. The only thing that would result from talking to her was her moving further and further away from him.

And he didn't want that.

Daniel wasn't giving up though. He had kept asking his assistant Eugene to continue to send her flowers…and he had increased them from every other day to daily deliveries. That was the only move that Daniel felt comfortable making. Anything else seemed like it may be too much.

Over the past two weeks, it killed him but he gave her the space that she needed. She didn't even seem to give one thought to what he needed.

He needed her….and not in a sexual way. Though, he did miss that. There was something more that he missed.

He missed having someone to talk with and laugh with. He missed the feeling of their hands entwined together. He missed the warmth he felt as he held her while they slept. Since they had been separated, he felt alone.

More and more, he was starting to see that he had more to lose than just a wife. He was losing his best friend. How Daniel wished that he could turn back the clock and bring back the naïve young woman that she had been before he had helped give her a make-over and remove her braces.

He wanted that Betty back. The beautiful Betty.

The one with the metallic smile that made anyone….well, almost anyone (Wilhelmina might argue with that)…break into a smile of their own. The smile that would melt your heart in a single dose. The smile that would change your world forever.

Daniel was half way back to his loft when he told the driver to turn around. He was not going to let another moment pass without telling Betty exactly how he felt about her and how much he missed her.

He was tired of this dance between them. It was time to come to a decision. If that meant that he needed to let her go, he would do it.

Even though, he knew that it might kill him. He knew that he deserved what he got. After all, he was the one that had started this…and now he might have to finish it.

When the car came to a stop outside the hotel where the charity event was taking place, Daniel wasted no time getting out of the car.

He rushed into the hotel lobby. His heart was pounding by the time that he reached the ballroom. The place was still brimming with people. He would need a miracle to find Betty in this crowd.

Daniel's eyes scanned the crowd. He looked through the dance floor and finally spotted her across the room. Currently, Derek was leading her towards the exit.

Daniel was brimming with jealous as he tried to get through the crowd. It seemed that no matter which way he tried to go. His attempts to reach her were halted.

Just as he finally reached the other side of the dance floor, he felt his phone vibrating in pocket. He pulled it from his pocket and saw that it was Alexis.

He didn't have time for her right now. He pressed ignore and then continued his pursuit of Betty. Daniel finally reached the exit that he quickly discovered did not leave to the lobby, just a long hall.

As he turned the corner in continuation of his search of the corridor, he came to a stunning discovery. In the deserted hallway, Betty was wrapped in Derek's arms.


	29. Chapter 29

**Falling (aka Betty's Dating Coach)**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

As soon as Betty was aware of Daniel's presences, she pushed Derek away from her like he was on fire. She knew how it must have looked and it was clear that Daniel didn't like seeing her like this in the arms of another man.

"Daniel…" Her heart thumped loudly.

Daniel's hand flew up. "Just stop, Betty."

"Just listen, Daniel." She moved forward. She heard her cell phone ringing from inside her black clutch. "Let me…"

"I don't want to hear it." Daniel looked at her with utter disgust in his eyes. "Go ahead and do what you want. You clearly don't want to make this work. I hope the two of you are very happy together.

"It's not what you think." Derek broke in. "Give Betty a chance to explain." Her phone continued to ring. She ignored it.

Daniel pointed at Derek. "I definitely don't want to hear from you. You're lucky that you aren't on the floor right now. I suggest you get out of here before I tell my father to fire you for putting your hands on Betty."

"Daniel, you can't do that." Betty felt tears forming in her eyes.

"I can do whatever I want, Betty. I've held my tongue long enough while I've watched him get to spend time with you while you treat me like our relationship is a business arrangement."

"I think I'm going to leave you two alone to talk." Derek made a quick exit. "I'll see you later."

"I'm not going to let him fire you, Derek." Betty could still her phone ringing from inside her purse.

"Answer that damn phone. It's probably your other boyfriend Harold."

"Shut up." Betty couldn't believe that he was accusing her of being involved with Derek…and Harold. "Why do you have to be like this?"

"Just answer the phone."

"No. We need to talk, Daniel."

The phone continued to ring. Daniel was clearly irritated. He tore the clutch away from her and opened it. He took the phone out.

"It's Alexis." Daniel looked up at her. "She called me too."

"You can answer it." Betty was on the verge of tears. "Something could be wrong if she's trying to reach both of us."

As Betty stood there, she watched Daniel answer the phone and talk to Alexis. She could see that Daniel was hurting and she couldn't blame him for being upset about finding her with Derek.

It wasn't what it had looked like though. Derek was simply trying to be her friend. He had been trying to calm her down when she finally broke down after weeks of avoiding her crumpling marriage.

She knew she should tell Daniel that. She had a feeling that he wouldn't believe her though. After all, her behavior had been cold and distant for the past few weeks. She hadn't shown any interest in him or their relationship since she left him at Madison Six.

Had she kept him at arms-length for too long? Had he reached the end of his rope?

She was sure that he had. Now, he had the power and she couldn't blame him if he wanted to end this.

When he got off the phone with Alexis, he placed the phone back in her purse and handed it to her.

ldquo;I don't have time for this right now. I've got to go." Daniel turned and walked back down the hall.

"Daniel, wait. We need to talk."

"Betty…I'm serious. I can't do this right now." Daniel said angrily. "I'm sure that you can catch a ride with Derek, if you hurry. I've got to get to the hospital right now."

"Hospital?" Betty's heart dropped. "What? What happened?"

"It's my father. He's on the way to the hospital. Alexis said she thinks it's a heart attack."

"I'm coming with you."

Daniel stopped and turned. "Betty, I can't do this right now. Just go home. I'll….call you later with an update about my dad. I don't need you to go with me."

"I'm not going for you." She lied. She was going there for Daniel. "I'm your father's assistant…and a member of this family until further notice."

"Fine…" Daniel barked back and continued down the hall with her following behind, trying to keep up with him.

En route to the hospital, Betty and Daniel rode in the back of the town care in silence. She could tell that Daniel was holding everything in. She tried to touch his hand once during the ride. He pulled away swiftly. Her touch of comfort was clearly unwelcomed.

Just before they arrived at the hospital, Daniel glanced over at her. She could see that there were tears in his eyes that he was fighting to hold back.

"I know that I said I really didn't want to deal with us right now but….I think that it would be best for us to just put an end to this. As soon as things are settled down, I'll have the attorney start everything. You'll get that new start you wanted."

Betty nodded. "Okay."

"Just do me a favor. Let's not mention this to my father right now, okay? I've screwed up so many things in my life and he actually thought that you were the one thing that I got right."

Though, Betty wanted to have a serious talk about the divorce. She realized that now was not the time to make things more difficult than they already were.

Once they arrived at the hospital, they found out that Bradford's condition was critical. While Daniel and Alexis spoke with the doctors, Betty tried her best to stay out of the way and keep the press away.

When Betty returned to Bradford's room, she was about to enter the room when she opened the door slightly and saw that Claire was sitting at Bradford's bedside. She stopped herself from going any further.

Claire had been on the run for six months since her escape from prison. It was obvious that she had heard the news about Bradford that had already spread throughout the city. Betty had to wonder how she managed to get in the hospital without being noticed.

"Mom."

Betty glanced over her shoulder and saw that Daniel was standing directly behind her. "Yeah. I came back and she was just here."

"She shouldn't be taking a chance like this." Daniel whispered. "I've got to get her out of here."

Betty stopped Daniel from entering the room. "Don't"

She tried to be gentle with her words. "She obviously knows what she's doing. You heard what the doctors said. He probably isn't going to pull through this."

"I know…" Daniel said solemnly.

They both stood there and eavesdropped on the conversation between Daniel's parents, even though they both knew they shouldn't.

As they stood there, they listened to their heartfelt exchange about how they loved each other. Betty had been around long enough to know that they had battles they had fought. There was Bradford's long time affair with the infamous Fey Sommers. There was Claire's battle with alcohol. There was the death of Alex and then his reappearance as Alexis.

Through all of it, they still loved each other. It brought tears to Betty's eyes. She wished that she and Daniel could be that strong and get through anything that had been thrown in their way.

Betty felt Daniel's hands on her shoulder. "She still loves him."

"Yeah." His voice barely audible, filled with emotions.

"After everything." Betty wiped a tear off her cheek. "That's amazing."

"Yeah."

If Bradford and Claire could manage to still love each other, it gave Betty some hope that there was still a chance that she and Daniel could actually make it. They just both needed to stop acting like children.

And it was time for them to stop acting like that. They had to grow up now.

Betty took a deep breath and turned around to face her husband. "Daniel, I know that we've both made some mistake. I think that we'll be making another one if we get divorced."

She quickly added. "Nothing happened with Derek. I know that you probably don't believe that because of the way that I've been acting. If you look into your heart deep enough, you should know that I would never do that, no matter how upset that I was with you."

"Daniel, I want to try to work this out. I want to start over…but I want the two of us to start over."

Daniel stood there silent. Betty wished that she could crawl into his mind and find out what he was thinking. Did he believe her? Was he willing to work on their issues together, like they should have all along?

Or was it just too late for them to pick up the pieces?

Then Daniel's eyes drifted from hers to further down the hall. "No…"

"Oh…" Her head fell in disappointment. "I guess that I deserve that. I mean, I've treated you pretty horrible the last few weeks. It's just….I had my reasons and I needed time to think about everything."

"No…No… Betty. I wasn't talking about that." He nodded down the long hallway. "Look"

Betty turned around and saw several security guards headed their way.


	30. Chapter 30

**Falling**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty!_

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

Now that his father was gone, the weight of the future of Meade Publication Empire rested on his and Alexis' shoulders. It was up to them to keep things going.

For the past couple years, Daniel had thought he wanted this. He remembered the day that his father had suggested handing him the keys to the kingdom, shortly before his brother returned from the dead.

The excitement that he felt that day was not even close to what he felt at this moment. Right now, he wanted to go directly to the airport and catch a flight to Rio, never to return.

And that was only issue that he faced. There was his mother's arrest and her defense; and then something equally as important that needed be tended to, the problems between him and Betty.

_Betty._

What was he going to do about that? Early this evening, he was ready about fixing things. Then, he found her in the arms of another man….and now she has the sudden urge to reconcile.

Daniel wanted that too. Could they do it though without screwing up this time? After the touching scene that they both had witnessed of his parent's declaring their love for one another, he wanted to believe that it was possible that they could overcome the challenges they had faced.

Right now, it seems like too much to think about. There was obviously an important conversation that needed to take place. Daniel just didn't know if he would be in the right mind to do it anytime soon.

Daniel heard the door open. He turned to see who was there and saw that it was Betty. He was surprised to see her. After all, he had sent her home an hour ago with the promise to call her in the morning.

"I thought you went home." Daniel said plainly. She moved inside, closing the door behind her.

"I had to deal with the press." Betty carefully approached him. "It was a mad house downstairs. Thankfully, most of them are gone now."

"Thank you." He could always count on Betty to handle everything.

"It's my job. Well….I guess, I don't technically have a job anymore." She rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Of course, you do." He couldn't imagine Meade without Betty. "We'll figure something out."

ldquo;It's not important right now. Do you need anything? Do you want me to call the attorney?" Betty asked.

"Alexis took care of it." In fact, Alexis left about an hour ago to take care of it while he stayed here.

"Okay." She said softly. "Well, the car is waiting for us downstairs. Are you ready to go?"

"I'll be ready in a minute." Daniel said hesitantly. "I just need a few more minutes."

"Take your time. I'll be waiting downstairs." She made her way out of the room.

He didn't even know why he was staying there. Alexis had gone home almost an hour ago. Perhaps, he thought if he wanted long enough his father would come back through the door and Daniel would get the chance to say the things he wanted too.

Daniel wished that he could tell his father that he loved him. Now, it was too late and he would never get that chance.

It was then that Daniel knew that he couldn't make the same mistake with Betty. He loved her. It was time for them to put their mistakes behind them and get on with their life because life was just too precious to waste another moment.

He wasn't going to sit on the sidelines anymore. Every single day for the rest of his life he was going to love her and show her that he appreciated her.

He jumped out of his chair and rushed out the door. He saw Betty at the end of the hall, waiting for the elevator. Daniel took one last look into his father's former hospital room and made his silent promise that he was going to work hard to make his father proud by carrying on the Meade legacy...at Meade Publications and with Betty.

Daniel then hurried down the hallway. As he got closer, the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. "Wait, Betty!"

He got on the elevator and caught his breath as the doors closed.

"That was quick." Betty looked upwards. "Do you want me to have the driver drop you off first….or me?"

Daniel turned towards her and swallowed hard. He felt his heart pounding hard.

"I want you to come home with me." Daniel reached for her hand, taking in his.

"We don't have talk about this tonight. It's been a long night, Daniel." Her tone told him that she didn't want to push him. This only made him more determined.

"Betty, I want you home with me, especially after tonight." He reached for her, pulling her to him. She didn't fight him.

"We should talk though." She lifted her eyes and rested her hand on

"We will." Daniel kissed her on the forehead. "I just don't want to waste any more time fighting about things that don't matter. If you say that nothing happened with Derek, I believe you."

"Really." Betty smiled, as he escorted her off the elevator and toward the waiting car.

"Yes. I do." He opened the door and ushered her inside. She jumped inside and he slid in beside her and slammed the door.

He drew his arm around her, pulling her to him. Two weeks of being apart and the drama of the day had left Daniel with the need to be close to her. He missed the feeling of her in his arms.

"So…do you want to come home with me? I really don't want to be alone tonight." He asked nicely. He wasn't going to force her, if she wasn't ready.

"Of course….but I need to stop by the apartment first. I need to pick up a few things. Is that okay?"

"Sure." He kissed her on the temple. Daniel gave the driver order's to take them to the apartment that Betty had been staying at near Meade Publications.

"Daniel, I am so sorry that I've been so distant the last couple weeks. I was only spending time with Derek, helping him get adjusted to Meade…and Harold….well, I was just having meeting some accounting issues."

"It's okay. I was jealous. I should have known better. I just don't understand why I found the two of you…" He stopped himself from reviving that image.

"He has actually been trying to get me to talk to you for two weeks. After I left Madison Six with him, we had coffee and talked. We became friends."

She continued. "And then earlier, I was so ready to talk to you and I chickened out. Derek only broke in on our dance to remind me that. By the time, the song was over. You were gone….and I was upset because I had to talk to you. Derek was just trying to calm me down."

Even in the dim light, Daniel could see Betty's eyes grow misty and she was beginning to lose a grip on her emotions.

ldquo;I'm here now." He wanted nothing more than to comfort her.

"I know. " She wiped her eyes but the tears continued to pour out of her eyes. She reached into and pulled a tissue out of her purse. "God…I'm sorry. I need to stop crying."

"No…cry all you want." Daniel pulled her closer. "We've both been through a lot."

"I should be the one there for you." Betty said timidly. "You just lost your father and your mom is on her way back to prison."

She added. "I was so afraid that I kept you away too long, especially when you said you wanted to go through with the divorce.

"There isn't going to be a divorce, Betty." He reassured her. "You were right. We would be making a big mistake. Earlier tonight, I was on my way back to tell you that I missed you and that I realized that if I lost you, I wouldn't just be losing my wife. I would be losing my best friend…and that I don't want to live without you."

"You were coming back?" Betty sniffled.

"I was." He nodded. "My father was right. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I really owe him for bringing you into my life."

Daniel felt tears in his own eyes now. "I never told my father that I loved him, Betty."

"Oh…Daniel. Your father knew that you loved him…and he loved you too."

"You think so."

"I know so. Daniel, I know that your father wasn't always good at expressing how he felt but he loved you. He told me before he died."

"Really." Daniel had forgotten in the frenzy of activity that Betty had been in the room, just before his father had passed away.

"Did he tell you anything else?" Daniel asked curiously.

"Not really. I did tell him something though. I can honestly tell you that he was very happy right before he died."

"What did you tell him?"

"Well…I told him that he was going to be a grandfather." Betty lifted her eyes to his.


	31. Chapter 31

**Falling  
**_Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty._  
_Author's Note: There will be one more chapter of this story._

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

Betty watched Daniel carefully to see his reaction to what she had learned only yesterday. She wasn't quite sure that he realized that she was serious. The longer he remained silent, the more nervous that Betty became.

"Grandfather?" He whispered. "But why would you tell him that?"

Betty broke out in a smile. Daniel could be so clueless sometimes. "Why do you think?"

"I asked you that first."

"I just thought that it would make him happy to know that his legacy would go on."

"Oh…I get it." Daniel nodded. "Thank you. I'm sure that meant a lot to him."

"It did. I know how important it was to him that you and Alexis carried on his name."

"Well, I guess now we are going to have to make sure that be make good on that." Daniel lifted her hand and kissed it. He got that look in his eyes. "Otherwise, he's going to come back and haunt us. I guarantee you don't want that."

Betty chuckled at how oblivious Daniel was. He was really going to make her spell it out. "We don't have to do anything, Daniel."

"Not this second." Daniel whispered. "As soon as we get home though, we could have a go."

"Are you serious?" Betty shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"I know how you feel about sex in public places and I'm sure that back seat of the car would probably not be a good idea."

He quickly added. "Now that we are working things out, I would rather not go back to sleeping on the couch."

"Daniel, I'm already pregnant."

ldquo;What?"

"I'm pregnant." She slapped him playfully. "Do I have to draw a picture for you?"

"How?"

"When we get home, I'll draw some pictures. I don't have any paper right now." Betty giggled.

"No….No. I mean, how can you be pregnant?" His eyes lit up with wonder and a smile crossed his face. His eyes lowered to her stomach.

He was adorable. Betty couldn't believe that she had forgotten how much she loved Daniel's eyes. She hoped their baby would have his gorgeous blue eyes.

"The usual way." She said plainly.

"But we haven't….you know, in a couple weeks." Daniel raised an eye brow, keeping his voice low.

"Oh we did…" She said playfully.

"The restaurant?"

"I don't know. It could have been our wedding night too….or even before that." Betty informed him. "I hadn't been to the doctor yet. I just found out yesterday."

"And I'm just now hearing about this." Daniel seemed a little upset. "Betty…"

"I hope you aren't mad that I told your father before you. I was going to tell you." She said nervously. She knew that he should have been the first to know.

"Oh…sweetie! I'm not mad at all. I'm just surprised. That's all." He lifted her chin and brought his lips to hers.

As he kissed her, she felt the same butterflies that she did the first time he kissed her. There wasn't a bit of anger in that kiss. All of her anxiety melted away in an instant.

He was the same sweet Danny that she fell in love with. When the car came to a stop, Betty unwillingly pulled away from the kiss.

"We'll just be a minute." Betty called out to the driver.

"Actually…we'll just be making the one stop tonight." Daniel opened the door and reached for Betty's hand. "You can go home."

Daniel helped Betty out of the car, joining him on the sidewalk. "What are you doing?" She asked him, as he closed the car door and the car drove away.

"We are going home." Daniel took her hand and led her inside the building. "It's late and you need your rest."

"I thought you wanted to take me home with you."

"Betty, this is our home. I think I'm going to sell the loft."

"When did you make that decision?" Betty asked.

"The moment that I knew you were pregnant. Besides…it's too small and I'm not crazy about letting my wife and the mother of my child sleep in my old bachelor pad."

Despite all the horrible night they had, Betty was amazed at how Daniel had come to life with the news of their little one.

"You didn't have a problem with it before." She teased him, as they stepped onto the elevator.

"Things are going to be different from now on, Betty." He pulled her to him, as the door closed.

"I'm very proud of you and I know that your father would be too." Betty beamed at the transformation that had come over him. She knew that even though the pregnancy had been unexpected. She could tell that he was happy about it and he was going to be an amazing father.

"Betty, I want you to know that my top priority is you and our baby. You are the most important thing to me, even more important than my father's legacy."

Betty wrapped her arms around his neck. Right now, she was incredible turned on by his confidence. She was so happy when the elevator opened onto their floor. Otherwise, she would have had to change her mind about sex in public.

When they got to the door, Betty pulled the key out of her purse and handed it to Daniel. He wasted no time getting them inside and closing the door.

As soon as the door closed, Daniel wasted no time, pulling her gently against him and kissing her. She dropped her bag to the floor. His hands worked quickly to remove her coat, between kisses and then she helped him with his.

Once their coat had unsuccessfully made it to the closet and were in a heap on the floor, Daniel continued to kiss her passionately. Finally, he stopped and just held her there in the dim hallway, trying to steady his breath.

"So…I take it that you are happy." Betty smiled brightly.

"Yes." He kissed her again quickly before picking her up. "Extremely."

"Daniel…Put me down." She ordered.

"Where's the bedroom?" Daniel asked.

Betty giggled. She remembered that Daniel hadn't actually been here before. "Down the hall….but I can walk."

"No way." Daniel made her way through the living room and down the hall as she had instructed.

Finally, they arrived in the master bedroom and he placed her down on the bed. "I'm going to spoil you."

"For the nine months." Betty rested back on the pillows.

He pulled off her heels and placed them on the floor and then removed his own shoes. "Yes...and for the rest of our lives." He crawled on the bed and moved in beside her. His hands ran over her stomach. "I hope you don't get sick of me."

"No…I think that I could get used to that."

"Good." He continued to stare at her stomach and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "You know, I was thinking you could come back to work with me and we could turn Wilhelmina's old office into a nursery….and use that expensive desk of her as a changing table."

"Gee…you are making lots of plans." Betty loved the idea. However, she knew that a screaming baby had no place at MODE. "We'll see. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet."

"If you come back and work as my assistant, I'll make Eugene your assistant. He can fetch any foods that you have cravings for."

"Oh…no. You don't." Betty protested. "You got me pregnant. You have to fetch everything I want…I'm not going to let you pawn it off on some poor assistant."

"Okay. Deal." He moved up and kissed her. Obviously, he was not in the mood to argue.

Betty was suddenly overcome with emotion. She was so happy to be here with Daniel and thankful that they were going to be okay.

"I love you so much." Betty started to cry.

"I love you too." Daniel put his arms around her. It felt so good to be back where she belonged.

"I can't believe that this is happening. This isn't how I imagined this happening," said Betty.

"It's perfect." He brushed her cheek. "I'm actually thankful that everything is coming together like this."

"Your dad…."

"Betty, I might have lost my dad today but I found out that I'm going to be a father. It's like one life ends and another is beginning. It's a miracle."


	32. Chapter 32

**Falling **

Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty. Still.

**Chapter Thirty/ Epilogue**

It had been exactly one year to the day since his father had passed away and Betty had told him that they were expecting their first child. It was a year that would be filled with more changes than Daniel could have ever imaged.

With drool on his favorite shirt and his cranky three-month old daughter strapped to his chest, there was no doubt in Daniel's mind that his father was looking down on him and laughing as he tried to rush through this meeting because Emma was clearly ready for a diaper change.

And she wasn't happy.  
Yes. His little princess Emma was very demanding right from the very beginning. From the day he found out that Betty was pregnant, he was on the run attending to Betty's cravings and her every need. Over the span of nine months, Daniel was pretty sure that he had made a thousand trips to Queens during the course of Betty's pregnancy to bring her back some of her father's empanadas and pans of flan to satisfy his wife's every craving. A few of those trips were in the wee hours of the morning.

He would do it again too. Betty and his little Emma were worth it.

Daniel was fully emerged into his role as Betty's husband and Emma's father. Just over a year ago, he could never have imagined that he would more interested in taking care of his child than what model he was going out with.  
As he carried his daughter to Wilhelmina's former office, which had since been converted into Emma's nursery, he couldn't believe that this was his life. Despite the lack of sleep, he was truly happy and a very lucky man.

That's why he had come to a very important decision about his future at Meade Publication and his own legacy that he was building with Betty.

When he arrived in her nursery, he chuckled to himself. He couldn't wait to see the look on Wilhelmina's face when she saw what they had done to her old office.

Gone was Wilhelmina's expensive office furnishings. They had been replaced with a white crib, a changing table, a rocking chair and more stuffed animals and toys than any baby could play with. Everything had been baby-proofed, just like the rest of the MODE offices.

Of course, soon Emma wouldn't need that nursery and MODE would not become her playground as they had thought it would be.  
Since the moment that Emma made her entrance at the party celebrating his mother's release from prison just over three months ago, Daniel had been doing a lot of thinking about his future at MODE and the future of his family.

Daniel's focus shifted to family even more when a young French boy showed up in his office two weeks after Emma was born telling him that he was his father. It was a shocking moment and one that could have threatened to cause problems with Betty.

In true Betty fashion though, she stuck beside him and even welcomed Daniel Jr. into their home with no questions at all. Four weeks later, the DNA tests were returned and it was found out that DJ was not his son…but Alex's son.

When they discovered this, Daniel was very disappointed. It was heartbreaking for both him and Betty when they found out that he was not his son. After some minor arguments with Alexis over taking responsibility for her son, she agreed to take him and had just successfully gained custody.

Betty came rushing in. "I'm so sorry that I'm late." She was out of breath, placing her bag down. "My class ran late."

Daniel grinned, giving her a quick kiss. "It's okay. Emma helped me run the meeting. She was ready for it to be over so she dismissed everyone."

"Bossy girl." Betty gave Emma kiss. "Just like her Auntie Alexis." Betty helped him unhook the stinky baby from the carrier and promptly took her over to the changing table.

"I think she takes after her mother." Daniel said playfully.

"Oh…you think so." Betty smiled. Her smile was something that Daniel knew that he would never tire of. "You think I'm bossy."

"That's a good thing though. You keep me in line" Daniel assessed the drool covered shirt after removing the baby carrier. He was definitely going to have to change before his meeting with Wilhelmina about her return to MODE. "And so does Emma."

While Betty finished up with Emma's diaper change, he headed to The Closet to change his shirt. When he returned he saw Betty and Emma sitting in the rocking chair, his heart melted just like it did on their first date at the bowling alley.

"So…are you ready for your meeting with Wilhelmina?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Are you sure that you trust her to take over?" Betty asked curiously.

"She is the most qualified and she knows MODE better than anyone," said Daniel. "And Alexis is going to keep a very close eye on her. Mom wasn't too thrilled about it though…but she agreed it was the best choice." Daniel pulled up a stool to spend a few more minutes with Betty and the baby before he had to rush off to the meeting with Alexis and Wilhelmina.

"I guess that's true."

"I probably will stick around for a few months to help with the transition." Daniel focused on Emma's bright blue eyes.

"Are you really sure that you want to do this?" Betty asked him for the one hundredth time since he told her about his plans to leave MODE.

"Yes. With Alexis in charge of Meade, I feel good about it. Besides, MODE is what my father wanted for me. He gave me this job to give me something focus on…and get me to take something serious for once in my life. I would say that he was successfully in that regard… because I found you…and now Emma. However, MODE is not what I want." Daniel assured her. "I'm not going to miss MODE and this lifestyle. It's part of the old me…and I really like the new me…a lot better. I don't want to live our lives in the pages of a tabloid. If I stay here, that's what will happen."

He added. "Our family is the most important thing to me."

"Have you decided what you are going to do?"

"Nope. I just want to spend time with the two of you…and I'm sure that everything else will fall into place."


End file.
